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OFFICIAL DONAXION. 




oHioscfokitrsr^'"-^' 



ACCOMPANIED BY 



BL^ISTK FORMS 



AND 



OPINIONS OF COMMISSIONERS 



PREPARED BY 

THE STATE SCHOOL COMMISSIONER, 



FOR THE USE AND GOYESNMENT OF SCHOOL OFFICERS. 



THIRD EDITION. 1863 



COLUMB US: 

RICHARD NEYINS, STATE PRINTER 
1862. 



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FEB 23 1905 
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PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 



State of Ohio, Office of Commissioner of Schools, 
Columbus, June 7, 1858. 

Section 54 of the general school law makes it the duty of the School Com- 
missioner to ** cause as many copies of the laws relating to schools and teachers' 
institutes, with an appendix of appropriate forms and instructions for carrying 
into execution all such laws, to be printed in a separate volume, and distributed 
to each county with the laws, journals and other documents for the use of the 
school officers therein, as often after the first distribution as any change in said 
laws may be made of sufficient importance, in the opinion of the Commissioner, 
to require a republication and distribution thereof." 

IStrict obedience to the requirements of this section would have led to tlie publi- 
cation of a new edition of school laws, forms, &c., one year ago, as numerous and 
important amendments bad then been enacted,. Many school officers throughout 
the state requested that the work should not be delayed, as much inconvenience 
was experienced from its want. But in view of the probability that additional 
amendments would be enacted by the succeeding Legislature, and unwilling that 
the state should be subjected to the expense of publishing an edition which might 
within six months become obsolete, I judged it prudent to defer the publication 
until the present season. As but a single section of the law was amended during 
the recent session of the Legislature, and as there was manifested a general in- 
disposition to make further changes, there is a strong probability that the present 
school laws of the State will remain for years without material alteration. 

The former edition was published under the supervision of the Hon. William 
Trevitt, Secretary of State, in 1853. It embraced only the general school law, 
and forms for the use of sshool officers. The present edition comprises, 

let. The act to provide for the reorganization, supervision and maintenance of 
common schools, passed March 14, 1853. 

2d. The Akron school law, with its various amendments 

3d. The act for the better regulation of the public schools in cities, towns, (fee, 
passed February 21, 1849. 

4th. The several enactments concerning teachers' institutes. 

5lh. School lands, and irreducible school funds. 

6th. Forms. 

7th. A selection of the published opinions of the late, and the present Com- 
missioner, relative to the interpretH,tion of school laws. 

It will be observed that the laws are published in the form in which thev now 
exist. Amended sections are indicated by reference to explanatory notes. 

For the statement respecting the irreducible school funds, I acknowledge in- 
debtedness to the late Commissioner, tbe Hon. H. H. Barney. 

To prepare suitable forms for conducting proceedings under our school laws, 
much care and labor have been expended; and it is believed that decided im- 
provement has been made upon those heretofore in use. In the preparation of 
these forms, a large number of the Auditors of Counti^^s have been consulted. 
Tne form for teachers' register was, a!; my request, furnished by A. J. Dildine, 
Esq , Auditor of Fairfield county. 



Of the numerous published opinions of my predecessor, not a few have become 
inapplicable, by reason of changes in the school law, enacted since their publi- 
cation. Of the remainder, I have selected nearly eighty, which, together with 
many of my owd, are inserted in this volume. It is believed that they will prove 
convenient to school officers throughout the State ; and it is hoped that they will 
obviate the necessity of much of the correspondence which has hitherto been 
required of this department. 

ANSON SMYTH, 
State School Commissioner. 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITIOK. 



Office of State School Commissioner, 
Columbus, May 1, 1862, 
Four years have elapsed since the publication of the second edition of our 
school laws. That edition consisted of twenty-five thousand copies. It is nearly 
a year since it was entirely exhausted ; and frequent and pressing calls have 
been made for a new supply. 

The present edition presents the school laws of the State with the various 
amendments that have been made during these four years. A very large addi- 
tion has been made to the " Opinions'* upon our school law, which, I trust, will 
greatly assist school officers in the discharge of thtir duties. 

It has been my intention to make various improvements in the Forms and 
Blanks ; but the many other duties which demand my time have prevented the 
accomplishment of this purpose. 

The Circulars included in this volume were originally prepared to serve tempo- 
rary purposes ; but it is my opinion that they contain suggestions which render 
them of permanent value. 

ANSON SMYTH, 
State School Commissioner. 



SCHOOL LA¥S IN FORCE. 



CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL SCHOOL ACT. 



An Act to provide for the reorganization, supervision and maintenance of 
Common Schools. 

[Passed March 1, 1853. LI vol. Stat. 429.] 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly cf the State of 
Ohio, That hereafter each and every organized township in the state 
shall compose but one school district for all purposes connected with 
the general interests of education in the township, and shall be con- 
fined to the management and control of a board of education, and 
the several school districts, or fractional parts thereof, which now are 
or may hereafter be established in the several organized townships 
of the stale, shall be regarded as sub-districts, and be confided to 
the management and control of local directors, as hereinafter pro- 
vided ; but nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to 
give to the township board of education, or to local directors in sub- 
districts, jurisdiction over any territory in the township included 
within the limits of any city or incorporated village, with the territory 
annexed thereto for school purposes, which shall elect or appoint a 
board of education as hereinafter provided, or which now is or may 
hereafter be governed, as to schools, by any special or other act, 
specified in the sixty-seventh section of this act. 



Townships 
compose dis- ' 
tricts ; school 
districts are 
sub-districts. 

Board of edu- 
cation. 



Local direct- 
ors. 

Cities, &c, 



ELECTION OF LOCAL DIRECTORS. 



When, where 
and how di- 
rectors elected. 



Sec. 2. On the second Monday of April, in the year eighteen 
hundred and fifty-three, there shall be held, at the usual hour and 
place of holding district meetings in each of the sub-districts of the 
several townships of the state, a school meeting of the qualified 
voters resident within the sub-district, and having the quahfications 
of voters at the state and county elections, who, when assembled, 
shall organize by the appointment of a chairman and secretary, and 
proceed to elect, by ballot, three school directors for such sub district; 
of those so elected, the person receiving the highest number of votes Term of ofiice 
shall hold his ofiice for three years ; the person receiving the next 
highest number, shall hold the ofiice for two years; and the person 
receiving the next highest number, shall hold the office for one year ; 
and each shall continue in office until his successor is elected and 
qualified. In case two or more persons so elected have received an 



For the convenience of reference, the following acts are numbered as chap- 



ters. 



6 



Minutes of the 
meeting. 

Clerk to re- 
cord. 

Clerk to cer- 
tify. 

Hour of hold- 
ing election. 
Who may de- 
signate. Five 
days' notice to 
be given. 

Official oath. 



Vacancy, how 
filled. 



Special naeet- 
ing to elect 
directors. 



Terms of of- 
fice. 



How directors 
to organize, 
and their meet- 
ings. 

Clerk cf sub- 
districts; du- 
ties of. 



equal number o*" votes, the duration of their respective terms of office 
shall be determined by lot, in the presence of the chairman and sec- 
retary of the meeting ; and annually thereafter, in the same manner, 
on the second Monday in April, there shall be elected in each sub- 
district of the proper township one schoul director for the term of 
three years ; and the minutes of the proceedings of any such district 
meeting shall be signed by the chairman and secretary, and deliv- 
ered to the directors who shall have been elected as aforesaid, to be 
recorded by the clerk in the records of the sub-district, and the said 
clerk of the sub-district shall forthwith certify to the township clerk 
the names of the local directors so elected, specifying the term for 
which each was elected. If the directors of any sub district, so 
elected, shall deem it expedient, they may designate the specific hour 
of the day on which the annual election for such sub-district shall be 
held, and in such case shall cause five days' notice thereof, in wiidng, 
to be posted up in three of the most public places in such sub- district. 

Sec 3.* The said directors, within five days after their election, 
shall take an oath or affirmation to support the constitution of the 
United States, and of the state of Ohio, and faithfully and impar- 
tially to discharge the duties of their office ; which said oath the 
directors are authorized to administer to each other. And in case 
a vacancy shall occur in the office of d:rector, by death, resignation, 
refusal to serve, or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the township 
clerk to fill such vacancy within ten days after being informed 
thereof, by the appointment of some suitable person, who shall hold 
his office until the lime of the next annual meeting, when a director 
shall be elected for the remainder, if any, of the unexpired term, in 
the manner prescribed in section two. 

Sec. 4* If the qualified voters of any sub-district shall fail to 
meet and elect school directors, as prescribed in sections two and 
three, it shall be lawful for any three qualified voters of such sub- 
district to call a special meeting of the voters of such sub district, 
for the purpose of electing directors, on first giving five days' no 
tice, in writing, of the time and place of holding such meeting, by 
posting the same in three of the most public places in such sub-dis- 
trict ; and the directors so elected at such special meeting shall hold 
their offices for the unexpired term which they were respectively 
elected to fill. 

Sec. 5 It shall be the duty of the directors, any two of whom 
shall constitute a quorum, to meet as soon as practicable after hav- 
ing been elected and qualified, at such place as may be most con- 
venient in the sub-district, and organize by appointing one of their 
number clerk of the sub-district, who shall preside at the official 
meetings of the directors, and record their proceedings in a book 
provided for the purpose, together with the minutes of the proceed- 
ings of the annual school meetings held in the sub-district, by the 
qualified voters thereof, which shall be a public record ; and all 
such pri'ceedings, when so lecorded, shall be signed by the clerk of 
the proper sub district. The directors may meet as frequently as 
they may think m cessary for the transaction of business, and fill 
any vacancies in the office of clerk which may occur in the sub-dis- 
trict ; or, in case of his absence, either of the other directors may 
officiate temporarily in his place. 



* As amended April 17, 1857. 



DUTIES OF LOCAL DIRECTORS. 



Seo. 6. It shall be the duty of the school directors, in each 
sub-district, to take the management and control of its local inter- 
ests and affairs, to employ teachers, to certify the amount due them 
for services to the township clerk, who shall draw an order on the 
township treasurer for the amount ; and to dismiss any teacher, at 
any time, ior such reason as they may deem sufficient ; and to visit 
the school or schools of the sub-district at least twice during each 
term, by one or more of their number, wiih such other person or 
persons competent to examine pupils in their studies, as they may 
choose to invite. 

Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of the directors, in their respective 
sub-districts, to negotiate and make, under such ru^s and regula- 
tions as the township board of education may prescribe, all necessary 
contracts in relation to providing fuel for schools, repairing, build- 
ing or furnishing school-houses, purchasing or leasing school-house 
sites, renting school-rooms, and making all other provisions neces- 
sary for the convenience and prosperity of schools within their sub- 
district ; but no contracts shall be made by the directors, under the 
provisions of this section, for the payment of money from the town- 
ship school fund applicable to such purposes, which in any one year 
shall exceed the amount distributable to the sub-districts, in propor- 
tion to the enumeration of scholars resident therein, without first 
obtaining the consent or order of a majority of the township board 
of education ; and all contracts made by the local directors, under 
the provisions of this section, shall be reported to the said board, st 
their next meeting after the making of such contracts ; and said 
township board of education, in their corporate capacity, on the 
part of the sub-district, shall be held responsible for the perform- 
ance thereof. 

Sec. 8.* It shall be the duty of the directors in each sub-dis- 
trict to take, or cause to be taken, annually, between the first and 
third Monday of September, an enumeration of all the unmarried 
white and colored youth, noting them separately, between the ages 
of five and twenty-one years, resident within such sub-district, and 
not temporarily there, designating between male and female, and 
return a certified copy thereof to the township clerk ; and in case 
the directors in any sub district shall fail to take and return the 
enumeration aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the township clerk to 
employ a competent person to take the same, and allow him a rea- 
sonable compensation for his services ; and shall proceed to recover 
the amount so paid for such services in a civil action before any 
court having jurisdiction, in the name of the state of Ohio, against 
said directors in their individual capacity ; and in such suits said 
clerk shall be a competent witness ; and the money so collected 
shall be applied to the use of common schools in the proper town- 
ship. The township clerk shall make an abstract of the enumera- 
tion so returned to him, designating the number of youth in each 
sub-district, and transmit such abstract, duly certified, to the county 
auditor, on or before the first day of October. 

Sec. 9. If any civil township, or part of a township, composing 
a sub-district, shall be partly situated in the Virginia Military Dis- 
trict, the United States Military District, the Western Reserve, or 



Their duties. 



Township 
clerk to draw 
orders on trea- 
sury. 



Duties of local 
directo s con- 
tinued. 



When consent 
of board to fee 
obtained. 



Contracts to 
be reported to 
board Board 
responsible for 
performance of 
contracts. 

Enumeration 
of youth. 



Abstract to be 
transmitted to 
auditor. 



Different sur- 
veys to be no- 
ted separately 



* As amended April 17, 1S57. 



8 



in an original surveyed township or fractional township, to which 
belongs any of section sixteen, or other lands in lieu thereof, or any 
other lands for the use of schools, or any interest in the proceeds of 
such school lands, the local directors shall, in taking the enumeration 
of youth resident within their jurisdiction, return separately those 
residing in the Virginia Military District, or United States Military 
District, or Western Reserve, or original surveyed or fractional 
township, to which belong any school lands, or interest in the pro- 
ceeds of school lands. 



Of whom com- 
posed. 



Quorum, 
Township 
clerk to be 
clerk of board. 



Powers and 
duties. 



Sessions of the 
board, regular 
and adjourn- 
ed. ^ 



TOWNSHIP BOARDS OF EDUCATION. 

Sec. 10. That the township board of education shall consist of 
the township clerk, and of the local director from each sub-district of 
the township, who has been appointed cleik in his sub-district, a 
majority of whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
business ; and the clerk of the township shall be clerk of the board, 
but shall not be entitled to a vote. It shall be the duty of baid clerk 
to be present at the meetings of the board, and to record in a book, 
to be provided for the purpose, all their official proceedings, which 
shall be a public record, open to the inspection of any person inter- 
ested therein ; and all such proceedings, when so recorded, shall be 
signed by the chairman and clerk. 

Sec. 11. The said township board of education, in each township 
of the state, and their successors in office, shall be a body politic and 
corporate in law, and, as such, may contract and be contracted with, 
sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in any court of law or 
equity in this state, and may receive any gift, grant, donation, or 
devise, made for the use of any school or schools, within their juris- 
diction ; and, moreover, they shall be, and are hereby invested, in 
their corporate capacity, with the title, care, and custody of all 
school-houses, school-house sites, school libraries, apparatus, or 
other property belonging to the school district as now organized, or 
which may hereafter be organized, within the limits of their jurisdic- 
tion, with full power to control the same in such manner as they may 
think will best subserve the interests of common schools, and the 
cause of education ; and when, in the opinion of the board, any 
school house, or school-house site, has become unnecessary, they 
may sell and convey the same in the name of the township board of 
education of the proper township ; such conveyance to be executed 
by the chairman and clerk of said board, and shall pay the avails 
over to the township treasurer of the proper township, for the benefit 
of schools ; and all conveyances of real estate which may be made 
to said board, shall be to said board in their corporate name, and to 
their successors in office. 

Sec. 12* It shall be the duty of the township board of educa- 
tion to hold regular sessions on the third Monday of April, and on 
the third Monday of September in each year, in the usual place of 
holding township elections, or at such place in the immediate neigh- 
borhood as may be convenient for the transaction of any business 
which may be necessary in relation to the subject of either the pri- 
mary or graded schools of the township, with power to adjourn from 
time to time, or to hold special meetings at any other time or place 



* As amendfed April 17, 1857. 



9 



■witliin the proper township, as they may think desirable for the 
transaction of business as aforesaid, and at all such meetings shall 
appoint one of their number to the chair, and in case of the absence 
of the township clerk, may appoint one of their own number to serve 
temporarily as clerk. 

Sec. 13. The township board of education shall have the man- 
agement and control of all the central and high schools of their 
proper township, which may be established therein under the author- 
ity of this act, with full power, in respect to such schools, to employ, 
pay, and dismiss teachers, to build, repair and furnish the necessary 
school-houses, purchase or lease sites therefor, or rent suitable 
school-rooms, and make all other necessary provisions relative to 
such schools as they may deem proper ; and it shall be the duty of 
said board of education to exercise all the powers conferred on local 
directors in respect to sub district schools, whenever such local di- 
rectors shall neglect to discharge their duties in any sub-district, as 
required by this act ; and it shall also be the further duty of said 
board to prescribe rules and regulations for the government of all 
the common schools within their jurisdiction ; said board of educa- 
tion may provide for German schools for the instruction of such 
youth as may desire to study the German language, or the German 
and English languages together, and if the board shall deem it ne- 
cessary, they may appoint one of their number the acting manager 
of schools for the township, who shall do and perform all such duties 
as the board may prescribe in relation to the management and su- 
pervision of the different schools, and the educational interests of the 
township, and may allow him a reasonable compensation for his 
services. 

Sec. 14. The said board shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, 
a map of their township, as often as they deem necessary, on which 
sha!4 be designated the sub districts of the township, which they 
may change or alter at any regular session, and the number of 
scholars assigned to each ; but no sub district shall contain within 
its limits less than sixty resident scholars by enumeration, except in 
cases wheie, in the opinion of the board, it is necessary to reduce 
the number ; and it shall be the duty of the board to establish a 
school in each sub- district of the township, of such grade as the pub- 
lic good, in their opinion, may require ; and in the location of prioaary 
schools, or schools of higher grade, the board shall have reference 
to population and neighborhood, paying due regard to any school- 
house already built, or site procured, as well as to all other circum- 
stances proper to be considered, so as to promote the best interests 
of the schools. 

Sec. 15. The board shall have power to assign such number of 
scholars to the several primary schools as they may think best ; and 
when such assignment has been made, shall furnish the teacher a list 
of the scholars to be assigned ; and the board shall also have full 
power to regulate and control the admission of scholars to schools 
of a higher grade, according to age and attainments, and may admit 
scholars over twenty-one years of age, and may suspend, or author- 
ize the local directors to suspend, from the privileges of either of the 
schools, any pupil found guilty of disorderly conduct, which suspen- 
sion shall not extend beyond the current session of the school. 

Sec. 16. Whenever it shall happen that persons are so situated 
as to be better accommodated at the school of an adjoining town- 



Management 
of central and 
high schools. 



When to act as 
local directors. 



To prescribe 
rules, etc. 
May provide 
for German 
schools. 



May appoint 
acting mana- 
ger. 



Map of town- 
ship. 

Board may^ 
alter sub dis- 
tricts. 

Sub-districts ; 
not to contain 
less than sixty 
scholars, ex- 
cept. 

School in each 
sub- district. 



Assignment of 
scholars to 
higher 
schools. 



Disorderly 
scholars may 
be suspended. 



10 



Division of 
township for 

educational 
purposes. 

Scholars may 
be transferred 
to another 
township. 



Board to deter- 
miue studies, 
books. 



Librarian. 

To give bond. 



ship, or whenever it may be desirable to establish a school composed 
of parts of two or more townships, it shall be the duty of the respective 
boards of the townships in which such persons reside, or in which 
such schools may be situated, or of the townships or parts of which 
the school is to be composed, to transfer such persons for educa- 
tional purposes to the township in which such school-house is, or 
may be located ; but the enumeration of scholars shall be taken in 
each township, as if no such transfer had been made, and such 
school, when so composed, shall be supported from the school funds 
of the respective townships from which the scholars may have been 
transferred ; and the board of that township in which the school- 
house is situated, shall have the control and management of such 
scQool, and the board of the adjoining township or townships, so 
connected for school purposes, shall each make the proper estimates 
of their share of expenses of every kind necessary to sustain said 
school, and certify the same to the auditor of their proper county, as 
part of their annual estimates for school purposes, and draw orders 
on iheir respective township treasurers, for such sum as will be in 
proportion to the enumeration of scholars so transferred, in favor of 
the board of that township in which such school is located, to be 
appropriated to the payment of teachers, and for other purposes 
connected with the establishment or maintenance of said school, as 
far as applicable. 

Sec. 17. The said board shall have power to determine the 
studies to be pursued, and the school-books to be used in the sev- 
eral schools under their control, and shall make and enforce such 
rules and regulations relative to the use and preservation of the 
school libraries and apparatus as they may think advisable, and 
shall appoint, or authorize the local directors to appoint a suitable 
person to act as librarian, and to take charge of the school appa- 
ratus, resident at some convenient place in the neighborhood where 
the school is kept, and may require such librarian to give bond for 
the faithful discharge of his duties, and allow him such compensa- 
tion as they may think reasonable. 



EEPORT REQUIRED OF TEACHERS. 

"What report Seo. 18. It shall be the duty of the school-teacher to make out 

must show. and file with the township clerk, at the expiration of each term of 
the school, a full and complete report of the whole number of 
scholars admitted to the school during such term, distinguishing 
between male and female, the average attendance, the books used, 
the branches taught, the number of pupils engaged in the study of 
each of said branches, and' such other statistics as he may be re- 
quired to make by the township boasd or local directors, and until 
such report shall have been certified and filed by the said teacher as 
aforesaid, it shall not be lawful for said board or local directors to 
pay said teacher for his or her services. 

STATEMENT REQUIRED OF DIRECTORS. 

Board of edu- ^EC. 19.* The board of education in each township shall pre- 

eation to re- pare, or cause to be prepared, and forwarded to the county auditor, 

pert to auditor qq or before the fiist day of October, a statement exhibiting the 

number of children in the township, between the ages of five and 



* As amended April 17, 1857, 



11 



twenty-one years, distinguisLing between male and female ; tLe 
number of schools, specifjing the different grades; the number of 
teachers, male and female ; the number of children, male and 
female, who have attended school during the past year ; the aver; ge 
atrendrince ; the length of the terms of schools ; compensation of 
teachers, male and female ; the number and condition of the school- 
houses and furniture, and the estimated value thereof ; the number 
and condition of the books in the school libraries ; the number of 
libraries ; the kind of school books used in the schools ; the number 
and value of school apparatus, and a full account of the expenditures 
for school purposes, together with such other statistics and informa- 
tion in relation to schools as the state commissioner of bchools may 
require. 

** CENTRAL OR HIGH SCHOOLS. 

Seo. 20. Each township board of education stall have power, as 
hereinafter provided, to establish in their respective townships such 
number of graded schools, or such modifications of them, as the 
public may require ; and, in case of the establishment of such graded 
schools, it shall be the duty of the board so to classify the children 
of the township as to secure to all, as far as practicable, an equitable 
participation in the advantages thereof; and the board shall desig- 
nate the sub-districts by numbering them, and schools of a higher 
grade than primary shall be known by the appellation of central or 
high schools. 

Seo. 21. Whenever, in the opinion of the board of education, it 
shall become necessary or deirable to provide one or more such 
central or high schools in their respective townships, the said board 
shall estimate the probable cost thereof, and call a special meeting 
of the qualified voters of the township, and wbo are not residents of 
any of the territory or districts named in the first section of this act, 
over which the jurisdiction of the township and local directors is 
excluded, at the usual place of holding elections, first giving twenty 
days* notice of the time and object of holding such meeting, by post- 
ing the same in some public place in each of the several sub-dis- 
tricts of the township, in which notice the amount or rate of tax, as 
estimated by the board, shall be stated, and the electors, when con- 
vened in pursuance of such notice, shall decide by vote any ques- 
tions which may be deemed important in relation to the cost and 
location of the building or buildings, or other provisions necessary 
for the establishment of any such school, and also the amount of 
township tax which may be levied for the purpose ; and the chair- 
man and clerk of the board shall be chairman and ckrk of the 
meeting, and the clerk shall record in the records of the board the 
action of the meeting, and the board shall be governed by the direc- 
tion and vote of said meeting in relation to the subjects or matters 
so submitted. 



Establishment 
of.and classifi- 
cation of chil- 
dren in. 



Vote to be ta- 
ken in estab- 
lishing such 
schools. 



Twenty days' 
notice to be 



given. 



Officers of 
meeting. 



ANNUAL ESTIMATES TO BE CERTIFIED BY THE BOARD. 

Sec. 22.* j It shall be the duty of the board of education of any 



* As amended April 17, 1857. 

tThe tax bill passed April, 1862, limits the levies for purpcees mentioned in 
this Ecciion to two and three-fourths nulls. 



12 



Auditor to as- 
sess the esti- 
mates on the 
taxable prop- 
erty of town- 
ship. 



Funds to be 
paid to town- 
ship treasurer. 
His per cent- 
age 

When tax to 
be assessed on 
property in 
sub-district to 
purchase sites 
and school- 
houses. 



organized township of the state, annually to determine, by estimate, 
as nearly as practicable, the entire amount of money necessary to 
be expended in the township for purchasing school-house sites, for 
erecting, furnishing and repairing school-houses, for providing fuel, 
and for any other school purpose other than the payment of teach- 
ers, not exceeding two mills on the dollar of the taxable property 
of the township: Provided, that if, in the opinion of the township 
board, a greater tax shall be necessary for said purposes during any 
year, the board shall call a special meeting of the qualified voters of 
the school district ov(r which they have jurisdiction, which meeting 
shall be called and held in the manner prescribed in the preceding 
section, and shall decide by vote the question whether such greater 
tax or any other greater tax for said purpose than two mil s on the 
dolUr shall be raised. It shall also be the duty of tke board to esti- 
mate such additional amount as they may think necessary, not 
exceeding two mills on the dollar of the taxable property of the 
township, for the exclusive purpose of sustaining teachers in the 
central or high schools, or for the purpose of prolonging, after the 
state funds have been exhausted, the terms of the several sub-dis- 
tricts or primary schools in the township, or for both purposes, as 
the board may tidjudge best ; these several amounts of money, so 
estimated or decided upon, the board shall make known by certifi- 
cate in writing, on or before the first Monday in June in such year, 
including any tax which may have been voted by a special meeting 
of electors, as provided in the preceding section, to the auditor of the 
proper county, who shall thereupon assess the entire amount of such 
estimates on all the taxable property of the township not included 
in any city or incorporated village, or territory annexed thereto 
forming any special district, to be entered by said auditor on the tax 
duplicate of the county, and collected by the county treasurer at the 
same time and in the same manner as state and county taxes are 
collected ; and when collected, shall be paid over to the treasurer 
of the proper township, on the order of the county auditor ; and 
said county treasurer shall be entitled to receive for collections one. 
per cent, on all moneys by him collected for school purposes, and 
no more. 

Seo. 23 * The township board of education shall have power, 
when, in their opinion, justice and equity require it, to estimate sep- 
arately the cost of purchasing a school-house site, and erecting or 
repairing a school house thereon, in any particular sub-district of 
the township wherein the inhabitants have not heretofore borne a 
reasonable share of the burden of taxation for such purpose in com- 
parison with other sub-districts in the township, and certify such 
portion as they may deem just and equitable of the amount of such 
estimate, to the county auditor of the proper county, together with 
a map of the lands and names of the taxpayers in any such sub- 
district ; which amount, so certified, shall be assessed by the audi- 
tor on the property therein subject to taxation, and placed on the 
county duplicate specially, and be collected and paid over in the 
same manner as other school taxes, and be applied tor the specific 
purpose of providing a schooi-house in such sub district : Provided, 
that such tax shall not be levied in any sub- district wherein the 



» As amended April 12, 1858. 



13 



same has been heretofore levied, nor in any case shall it be assessed 
more than once in the same sub-district : A.nd further provided, 
that such tax shall not be assessed ia any sub-district which may be 
hereafter created, unless the said sub-district shall be composed in 
■whole of territory upon which such tax has not heretofore been 
levied.* 



DISBURSEMENT OF SCHOOL FUNDS. 

Sec. 24 f All school funds which may come into the hands of 
the township treasurer, from whatever source, shall be paid out 
only on the order of the clerk of the board of education, under the 
direction of the board ; except, in paying teachers for their services, 
the said clerk may, on such teachers presenting their certificates of 
qualification, and depositing with the clerk true copies thereof, draw 
the requisite orders on the treasurer for such amount as may have 
been certified to be due by any two of the local directors of the pro- 
per sub district in which the teacher was employed ; and so much 
of the school moneys coming into the hands of the treasurer as may 
be derived from the state tax, or from any township tax levied for 
the continuation of schools after the state fund has been exhausted, 
or from such school funds as arise from the sale or rents of section 
sixteen, or other school lands, shall be applicable only to the pay- 
ment of teachers in the proper township, and shall be drawn for no 
other purpose whatever ; and all school funds made applicable to 
the payment of teachers only, shall be distributed to the several sub- 
districts, and fractional parts thereof, in the township, in proportion 
to the enumeration of scholars, with the exception of so much of 
the township tax as may have been levied and reserved by the board 
for sustaining teachers in the central or high schools, and with the 
further exception of so much of said township tax as may be neces- 
sary for prolonging the schools the required length of time in those 
sub-districts which contain comparatively a small number of resi- 
dent youth of school age, and which, owing to sparseness of popu- 
lation, or other unavoidable obstacles, cannot be enlarged without 
serious inconvenience to the inhabitants ; and such school funds as 
arise from the sale or rents of section sixteen, or other lands in lieu 
thereof, shall be distributed to the localities to which such funds be- 
long. All other school funds of the township not raised for the cen- 
tral or high schools nor made applicable to the payment of teachers 



Funds to be 
paid out on 
order of clerk, 
except teach- 
ers. 

How teachers 
paid. 



Disbursement 
of funds. 



* An act explanatory of an act entitled "an act to amend section twenty- 
three of an act entitled • an act to provide for the organization, suntrvision and 
maintenance of common schools/ passed March 1 J , 1853," passed March 12, 1859 

Section I. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the Levy of sub- 
provisions of the act entitled " an ac. to amend section twenty-three of an act district tax to 
entitled ' an act to provide for the organization, supervision and maintenance of complete, <fec., 
common schools,' passed March 11, 1853," passea April 12, 1858, shall be so school-house, 
construed as to authorize the levy of a tax upon any sub-district for the purpose 
of completing the erection or repair of any schcol house in such sub-diatriefc 
which was in process of erection or repair at the time said act, passed April 12, 
1858, took effect, or for paying debts incurred therefor. 

WILLIAM B WOODS, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
MARTIN WELKER, 

April 6, '859. President of the Senate. 

+ As amended April 17, 1857. 



14 

aforesaid, shall be applied, under the direction of the board, in pro- 
curing school-house sites, building, furnishing and repairing school- 
houses, providing fuel, and in making such other provisions for 
schools in the sub-districts of the proper township, as may in the 
SmontW opinion of the board be necessary ; and the board of education of 
school in each ^^^h township, city, or village, shall make the necessary provisions 
sub-disti-iet. for continuing the schools in operation in their respective townships, 
or separate school districts, for at least six months in each year. 



Duties of 
elerk, &c. 



DIVISION OF DUTIES, AND LIABILITY OF CLERK. 

Sec. 25. The c^erk of tho board of education, or any one or more 
of the board designated for that purpose, or the acting manager of 
schools of the township, may do and perform all such duties and 
services connected with the interests of schools, as the board may 
direct, and report the same to the board for their action and appro- 
val ; and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the board to keep a full 
record thereof, in connection with the records of the other official 
proceedings of the board ; and, in case of failure to keep such re- 
cord, or other records required by this act, the clerk of the board 
shall be liable in a civil action for all loss or damages that may en- 
sue to any person or persons, or to the school district, in the name 
of such person or persons, or board of school directors, as the case 
may be, and shall, moreover, be liable, on complaint filed in the 
name of the state of Ohio, before any justice of the peace, or other 
court having jurisdiction, to a fine, not exceding one hundred dol- 
lars, which, wben collected, shall be paid over to the treasurer of 
the proper township, for the benefit of schools. 



Board to settle 
wi^ townekip 

treasurer. 



SETTLEMENT V7ITH TREASURER. 

Sec. 26. It shall be the duty of the board of education to make 
settlement with the township treasurer at their regular session in 
April, annually ; but if, for want of time, or other reason, a settle- 
ment can not be made at said session, then it shall be the duty of 
the board to appoint a committee composed of one or more of their 
own members, to make such settlement as soon as practicable, and 
report the result to the clerk of the board, who shall record an ab- 
stract thereof in the records of the board. 



Duties of 
township 
treasurer ; to 
give bond ; its 
eondibion, cte. 



"When town- 
ehip clerks to 
prosecute 



TREASURER, AND HIS DUTIES. 

Sec. 27. The township treasurer, in each township, shall be the 
treasurer of all school funds for school purposes, belonging to the 
township, arising from whatever sources ; and on his election, and 
before entering upon the duties of his office, he shall give bond, with 
sufficient security, in double the probable amount of money that 
shall come into his hands, payable to the state of Ohio, to be ap- 
proved by the trustees of the township, conditioned for the faithful 
disbursement, according to law, of all such funds as shall from time 
to time come into his hands, and, oa the forfeiture of such bond, it 
shall be the duty of the township clerk to prosecute and collect the 
same for the use of the schools m the township ; if such township 
clerk shall neglect or refuse to so prosecute, then any freeholder 
may cause such prosecution to be instituted. 



15 



Seo. 28. Before tbe county auditor shall issue to tbe township 
treasurer any order on the county treasurer for the payment of any 
school funds belonging to the township, such township treasurer 
shall furnish the auditor with a certificate from the township clerk, 
that such treasurer has executed and filed with him a bond, as pro- 
vided for in the foregoing section, and also stating the amount of 
said bond; and the auditor shall in no case permit the township 
treasurer to have in his hands, at any one time, an amount of school 
funds over one-half the amount of the penalty in such bond ; and the 
township trustees shall allow the township treasurer a compensation 
equal to one per cent on all school funds disbursed by him, to be 
paid on the order of the trustees, out of the township treasury. 

Seo. 29. The township treasurer shall, annually, between the first 
and 20th of February, settle with the county auditor, and account to 
him for all moneys received, from whom and on what account, and 
the amount paid out for school purposes in his township ; the auditor 
shall examine the vouchers for such payments, and, if satisfied with 
the correctness thereof, shall certify the same, which certificate shall 
he prima Jacie a discharge of such treasurer; and at the expiration 
of his term of service, said treasurer shall deliver over to his suc- 
cessor in ojBice all books and papers, with all moneys, or other prop- 
erty, in his hands, belonging to said township, or the schools therein, 
and also all orders he may have redeemed since his last annual 
settlement with the county auditor, and take the receipt of his suc- 
cessor therefor, which he shall deposit with the township clerk within 
ten days thereafter; and for making such annual settlement he shall 
be entitled to receive the sum of one dollar, to be paid out of the 
county treasury, on the order of the county auditor. 

Se€. 30. In case the townstiip treasurer shall fail to make such 
annual settlement within the time as prescribed in the preceding 
section, he shall be liable to pay a fine of fifty dollars, to be recov- 
ered in a civil action in the name of the state of Ohio, and, when 
collected, to be applied to the use of common schools in the proper 
township ; and it is hereby made the duty of the county auditor to 
proceed forthwith, in case of such failure, by suit, against such trea- 
surer, before any justice of the peace of his county, to recover the 
penalty aforesaid ; but when it shall appear, on trial, to the satisfac- 
tion of said justice, that said treasurer was prevented from making 
such settlement within the time prescribed, by sickness, or unavoid- 
able absence from home, and that such settlement has since been 
actually made, it shall be lawful for the justice to discharge such 
treasurer, on the payment of costs. 



Certificate to 
be furnished 
auditor. 



Settlement of 
auditor and 
treasurer. 

Auditor's cer- 
tificate. 

Treasurer to 
deliver over 
books, papers, 
etc. 

Treasurer's re- 
ceipt, etc. 



Penalty 
against town- 
ship treasurer. 



SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN. 



Seo. 31. The township boards of education in this state, in their 
respective townships, and the several other boards of education, and 
the trustees, visitors and directors of schools, or other ofiBcers having 
authority in the premises, of each city or incorporated village, shall 
be and they are hereby authorized and required to establish, within 
their respective jurisdictions, one or more separate schools for colored 
children, when the whole number, by enumeration, exceeds thirty, 
so as to aflford them, as far as practicable under all the circumstances, 
the advantages and privileges of a common school education ; and 
all such schools so established for colored children shall be under 



Schools for 
colored chil- 
dren. 



16 



tbe control and management of the board of education, or other 
school officers who have in charge the educational interests of ihe 
other schools ; but in case the average number of colored children 
in attendance shall be less than fifteen for any one month, it shall 
be the duty of said board of education, or other school officers, to 
discontinue said school or schools for any period not exceeding six 
months at any one time; and if the number of colored children shall 
be less than fifteen, the directors shall reserve the money raised on 
the number of said colored children, and the money so reserved 
shall be appropriated for the education of such colored children, 
under the direction of the township board. 



What cities 
and villages 
are school dis- 
tricts. 



Power of 
board in cities 
and towns. 



Clerk of the 
board — his 
dulifcs. 



CITIES AND VILLAGES. 

Sec. 32. Each city or incorporated village, including the terri- 
tory annexed to the same for school purposes, not otherwise specially 
regulated by charter, or governed as to schools by laws as specified 
in the sixty-seventh section of this act, and which, with the territory 
annexed, contains not less than three hundred inhabitants, shall be, 
and hereby is created a separate school district ; and the qualified 
voters of such city or village, with the territory annexed, shall, at 
the same time, and in the same manner, that local directors of the 
sub-districts of the township are elected by the provisions of this act, 
proceed to elect three persons, who shall constitute a board of ed- 
ucation for such city or village, with the territory so annexed, and 
such board shall have the same powers, perform the same duties, 
and be subject to the same penalties as township boards of education : 
Provided, that by agreement between the board of education of the 
township in which such city or village, with the territory annexed, 
may be situated, and the board of education of such city or village, 
transfers of territory not within the limits of such corporation, may 
be made to or from the districts provided for in this section. 

Sec. 33. That said board of education, in any city or incorpo- 
rated village, shall be authorized, when they think it advisable, to 
divide such city or village into sub-districts ; and they may estab- 
lish schools of different grades, and ordain such rules and regula- 
tions for the government and discipline of such schools as they may 
think conducive to the public good ; and it shall be lawful for the 
township board of education, in any township in which such city or 
incorporated village is situate, by and with the consent of the board 
of education of any such city or incorporated village, to transfer 
thereto for educational purposes the scholars of such parts of their 
respective townships as he adjacent thereto, and all such transfers 
shall be controlled, and such schools supported in the same manner, 
and on the same principles, as in case of like transfers for the con- 
venience of schools where two or more townships adjoin, as provi- 
ded in this act. 

Sec. 34.* That it is hereby made the duty of said board of edu- 
cation of such city or incorporated village, at their first annual 
meeting, to elect, from their own number, a clerk or recorder, and 
the person receiving a majority of all the votes cast shall be declared 
elected for one year therelrom, or during the pleasure of said board, 
and he shall do and perform all the duties required of the clerk of a 



As amended. 



17 



township board of education^ and sucli other duties as the board of 
edacatioa may, frotn time t» time, prescribe ; and all orders of the 
board of educaiioa for the payment of money shall be countersigned 
by the clerk or recorder of said board and it shall be the duty of 
the treasurer of such city or incorporated villayfe, to receive and 
disburse the school funds of such ci y or village, in the same man- 
ner as is required of the township trcisurers in their respective town- 
sh'ps, and for his services shall be entitled to the same compensation : 
Provided, that the board of education sha 1 require the treasurer to 
enter into a bond, as required of township treasurers, and that the 
said treasurer shill farnish the auditor a ceriificite from the clerk 
or recorder of such city or incorporated vi lai^e, that such treasurer 
has executed and deposited such bond, stating also the amount, as 
is rpquired of township treasurers in similar cases 

Sec 35 The board of education of any city or incorporated 
village, shall have, and may exercise all the powers which are by 
this act conferred upon the township boards ol' education, and shall 
do and perform the like duties, in all respects, so far as applicable, 
and the school funds shall be divided among the sub districts, so as 
to make the distribution as nearly equitable as possible- All taxes 
for building, purchasing, repairing, or furnishing school-houses and 
lots, shall be equally assessed on all the property subject to taxa- 
tion in such city or incorporated village, and tte board of education, 
in expending the same, shall make the necessary provisions for the 
sub-districts. 

Seo 36 In any district or sub district, composed, in whole or in 
part, of any city or incorporated village, the board of education may, 
at their discretion, provide a suitable number of evening schools, 
for the instruction of such youth over twelve years of age as are pre- 
vented, by their daily avoeaii )n, from attending day schools, subject 
to such regulations as said board, from time to time, may adopt for 
the government thereof. 



Duty of treas- 
urer of city or 
town. 



To give bond. 

Clerk or re- 
corder's re- 
ceipt. 



Further pow- 
ers of the 
board. 



Ev^ening 
schools. 



APPORTIONMENT OF SCHOOL FUNDS. 

Sec. 37. The auditor of state shall, annually, apportion the com- 
mon school funds among the different counties, upon the enumera- 
tion and returns made <o him by the state commissioner of common 
schools, and certify the amount so apportioned to the county auditor 
of each county, stating from what sources the same is derived, which 
said sum the several county treasurers shall retnin in their respect- 
ive treasuries from the state funds; and the county auditors shall, 
annually, and immediately after their annual settlement with the 
county treasurer, apportion the school funds for their respective 
counties, according to the enumeration and returns in their respective 
offices; and no lownship, or other district, city, or village, which 
shall have failed to make and return such enumeration, shall be en- 
titled to receive any portion of the common school funds. And, in 
making such distribution, each county auditor shall apportion all 
moneys collected on the tax duplicate of any township, for the use 
of schools, to such township ; all moneys received from the state 
treasury, on account of interest on the money accruing from ihe sale 
of section sixteen, or other lands in litu thereof, to the civil town- 
ships and parts ol civil townships in the ori^^inal surveyed town-hip, 
or fractivUdl township, to which such land belongs; all moneys 
2 



State auditor 
to apportion 
^unds and cer- 
tify apportion- 
ment. 



County audi- 
tor to make 
apportionment 
in county, and 
how. 



18 



Where part of 
Bection sixteen 
lies in two 
counties. 



Interest on 
section. 



received by the county treasurer, on account of the Virginia Military 
school fund, United States Military Di>trict, and Connecticut Western 
Reserve, according to laws regulating the same; and all other 
moneys for the use of schools in the county, and not otherwise 
appropriated by law, to the proper township ; and he shall, imme- 
diately after making said apportionment, enter the same into a book, 
to be kept for that purpose, and shall furnish the township treasurers 
and township clerks, treasurers and recorders of incorporated ciiies 
or villages, as the case may be, each with a copy of said apportion- 
ment, and give an order on the county treasurer to each township 
treasurer, or to such treasurer as may be entitled to receive the 
same, for the amount of money belonging to his respective township, 
city, or village, and take a receipt from such treasurer for the amount 
thus received ; and the said county auditor shall collect, or cause to 
be collected, the fines and all other moneys for school purposes, in 
his county, and pay the same over to the county treasurer ; and he 
shall inspect all accounts ot interest for section sixteen, or other 
school lands, whether the inter^r-st is paid by the state or by the 
debtors, and take all the proper measures to secure to each town- 
ship its full amount of school funds. 

Sec. 38. When any original surveyed township in which section 
sixteen has been sold, snail li.- in two or more counties, the auditors 
of the respective counties shall certify to the auditor of the county 
in which that portion of said township lies containing said section 
sixteen, the enumeration of the scholars in that part of said township 
embraced within their respective counties ; and the auditor of said 
county in which said section sixteen is situate shall apportion the 
fund derived from said section sixteen to the diflferent portions of 
said township, according to said enumeration, and shall certify to 
the auditors of the other counties the amount belonging to the parts 
of said township situate in their respective counties, and draw an 
order in favor of the treasurers of the other counties on the treasurer 
of his own county lor the amount going to each ; and the auditors 
of the respective counties shall apportion the same, in their respective 
counties, to such portions or parts thereof as may be entitled thereto. 
Seo 39. The interest on the purchase of any such section sixteen 
belonging to any such original surveyed township, so as aforesaid 
lying in two or more counties, shall be paid over on the order of the 
auditor of that county in which such section sixteen is embraced, to 
the treasurer of the same county, to be apportioned as is pointed out 
in the preceding section. 



RETURN OF ABSTRACT TO STATE COMMISSIONER. 



returns to state 
commissioner. 



Dutyofcounty Sec. 40.* The auditor of each and every county shall, on or 
auditor as^ to before the fifth day of November, annually, make out and transmit 
to the commissioner of common schools, at Columbus, an abstract 
of all the returns of school statistics made to him from the several 
townships in his county, according to the form that may be prescribed 
by the state commissioner ; and he shall cause to be distributed all 
such circulars, blanks and other pap-rs, including school laws and 
documents, in the several townships in the county, as said commis- 
sioner shall lawfully require ; in case the county auditor shall fail, 



* As amended April 17, J 857. 



19 



Penalty ! 
agaiust county 
auditor. 



Compensation 
10 CDunty aud- 
itor. 



Liability of 
the clerk and 
county auditor 
for loss . 



from any cause, to make return of the abstract as aforesaid, it shall 
be the duty of the cauaty commissioners to deduct for every such 
failure, fron the annual saUrv or allowance made to the auditor for 
his services, the sum of fifty dollars. 

Seo. 41. The county commissioners of each county in this state 
shall make the same allov^raoce to the county auditors, out of their 
respective county treasuries, for services performed and expenses 
incurred under this act, as is allowed for other services of like nature. 

Sec. 42 The township clerks and county auditors shall be re- 
sponsible for all losses sustained by any township or county, by 
reason of aay failure on their respective parts to make and return 
the enumerations and abstracts thereof as herein provided, and shall 
each be liable for the same, in a civil action, at the suit of the state 
of Ohio ; and the amounts so recovered shall be apportioned, in the 
same manner as the school funds would have been, to the respective 
counties or townships, as the case may be. 

SCHOOL HOUSES EXEMPT FROM SALE ON EXECUTION. 

Sec. 43 Eich and every lot or parcel of land which heretofore What school 
has been, or hereafter shall be, appropriated for the use of common property ex- 
schools in this state, on which there has been or shall be a school- *^°^P.^ ^''^"^ ®^' 
house erected, and which has been or shall be occupied for the pur- 
pose of accommodating a common school, of whatever grade, in the 
usual manner, from time to lime, howsoever or by whomsoever the 
legal title to the same may be held and vested, shall be and the 
same is hereby exempted from sale, on any execution, or other writ, 
or order in the nature of an execution : Provided, that the lot of land 
so exempted shall not exieed four acres, and if there be any excess, 
that portion most convenient for school purposes shall remain exempt 
as aforesaid, to be determined by the proper school directors, or 
other officer:^ having charge of schools. 



APPOINTMENT OF SCHOOL EXAMINERS, AND THEIR DUTIES. 

Sec 4 4. It shall be the duty of the probate judge, in the sev- 
eral counties of this state, as soon after the election of school officers 
under the provisions of this act as practicable, to appoint a county 
board of school examiners, to consist of three competent persons, 
resident in the county, who shall hold their office for the term of 
two years, and until their successors are appointed ; and all vacan- 
cies in said board which may thereafter occur, whether from expira- 
tion of the term of office, refusal to serve, or otherwise, shall be filled 
by like appointment by said judge. 

Sec. 45. It shall be the duty of the examiners to fix upon the 
time of holding meetings for the examination of teachers, in such 
places in their respective counties as will, in their opinion, best 
accommodate the greatest number of candidates for examination ; 
notice of all such meetings having been published in some newspa- 
per of general circulation in their respective counties ; and at such 
meetings any two of said board shall be competent to examine ap- 
plicants and grant certificates ; but no fee or charge shall be made 
for a certificate. No certificate of qualification shall be valid in any 
county ex;ept that in which the examination took place, nor for a 
longer period than two years, and if at any time the recipient of the 
certificaie shall be found incompetent or negligent, the examiners, 
or any two of them, may revoke the same, and require such teachers 



Probate judg^ 
to appoint 
board of ex- 



Powers and 
duties of 
board. 



Notice of 
meetings. 

To grant cer- 
tificates to 
teachers. 



May revoke 
the same. 



20 



to be dismissed ; but sucb teachers sball be entitled to receive pay- 
noent for services only up to the time of such ois^missal ; and no 
person shall be fmplojed as a teacher in any primary common 
school, unless such person shall have first obtained frrm said ex- 
aminers, or any two of tliem, a certificate of ^ood mora) character, 
and that he or she is qualified to teach orthography, reading, writing, 
arithmetic, geography, and English grammar ; and in case such 
person intends to leach in any common school of higher grade, he 
or she shall first obtain a certificate of the requisite qualifications 
in addition to the branches aforesaid. 
Clerk of board. Sec. 46. The said board of examiners shall appoint one of their 
number to serve as clerk, who shall keep a record of their proceed- 
ings, noting the number and date of each certificate given, to whom, 
for what term of time, and for what branches of studies; and the 
said board may make all needful rules and regulations for the proper 
discharge of their duties. The members of the b'^ard shall be enti- 
tled to receive each one dollar and fifty cents for every day necessa- 
lily ( ngaged in official service, to be paid out of the county tieasury, 
on the order of the county auditor, exclusive of blank books and 
stationery, which the county auditor shall furnish ; and the county 
auditor may require the accounts, when presented, to be substantiated 
on oath, which said officer may administer and file in his office. 



Rulee of 
board; their 
fees. 



Stationery. 



When com- 
missioner 
elected. 

Term of office. 



Vacancy, how 
filled. 



His official 
bond 



and oath. 



Office, etc., at 
seat of gov- 
ernment. 



Hia secretary. 



STATE COMMISSIONER. 

Sec. 47. There shall be elected by the qualified electors of this 
state, at the next annual election for state and county officers, and 
every three years thereafter, a state commissioner of common 
schools, who shall hold his office for ihe term of three years, and 
until his successor is elected and qualified. The election cf said 
commii'Sioner, and the returns thereof, shall be the same, in all re- 
spects, as is provided for the election of judges of the supreme 
court; and in case a vacancy shall happen in said office by death, 
resignation, or otherwise, the governor shall fill the same by ap- 
pointment, for the unexpired term. 

Sec. 48. Before entering upon the discharge of his official du- 
ties, the said commissioner shall give bond, in the penal suno of ten 
thousand dollars, to the state of Ohio, with two or more sureties, to 
the acceptance of the secretary of state, conditioned that he will 
truly acccunt for and apply all moneys, or other propeity, which 
may come into his hands in his official capacity, for the use and 
benefit ot common schools, and that he wi J faithfully perform the 
duties enjoined upon him according to law ; and he {>hall also take 
and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support the consiiiution of 
the United States and of the state of Ohio, and diligettly and faith- 
fully to discharge the duties of his office, as prescribed by law, 
which bond, with the certificate of his oath indorsed thereon, shall 
be filed with the treasurer of state. 

Sec. 49 * The books and papers of his depar'ment shall bfe lept 
at the seat of government, where a suitable office shall be furnished 
by the state, at which he shall give attendance when not abs^ent on 
public business ; [and the state librarian sball, in addition to the du- 
ties ot his office, discharge the duties of secretary to the ccmmis- 
sioner of common schools, under his direction J 



* Ihe clause enclosed in brackets, was, in tflfect, repealed^ March 24, 1860. 



21 

Seo. 60. It shall be the duty of the commissioner to speiK^, an- His duties ia 

Dually, on an averaore. at least ten days in each ju Hciil district of ^'*^'^°?:v!f; 
^, -^ . °,- , .,,"'... several ludi- 

the state, superintending nnd encouraging teachers institutes, con- cial districts. 

ferrlng with township boards of education, or oiiher school officers, 

counseling teachers, visiiing schools, and delivering lectures on 

topics calculated to subsr^rve the interests of popular education. 

Sec 61. As soon as the revenues, to be raised as hereinafter And in pur- 
provided, for the purposes of furnishing the schools with libraries c^iasiaa: books 
and apparatus, will admit, it shall be the duty of the said comoais- ^^ ^^^ 
sioner to purchase the same, aad the books and apparatus so pur- 
chased shall be distributed through the auditor's office of each 
county to the board of education ia each township, city, or incor- 
porated village, according to the enumeration of scholars. 

Sec. 62. He shall also exercise such supervision over the edu- Hia supervi* 
cation-il funds of the state as may be necessary to secu^o their sion over 
safety, and right apjjlication, and distribution according to law. He ^^^^^ nnda. 
shall have power to req'iire of county auditors, towoship boards of May require 
education, or other locdl school officers, clerks and treasurers of reports trom 
townships, county treasurers and clerks, recorders and treasurers of ^^j.^^ 
cities and vdlages, copies of all reports by them required to be 
made, and all such other information m rtlatioa to the funds and 
condition of schools, and the management thereof, as he may deem 
important. 

Sec. 53. He shall prescribe suitable forms and regulations for To prepare 
making all reports and conducting all necessary proceedings under forms, etc. 
this act, and shall cause the same, vs^ith such instructions as he 
shall deem necessary and proper for the organization and govern- 
ment of schools, to be transmitted to the local school officers, who 
shall be governed in accordance therewith. 

Sec. 64. He shall cause as many copies of the laws relating to Duties as to 
schools and teachers' institutes, with an appendix of appropriate distribution of 
forms and instructions for carrying into execu'ion all such laws, to school laws, 
be printed in a separate volume, and distributed to each county 
with the laws, j lurnals, and other documents for the use of the 
school officers therein, as often after the first distributicfti as any 
change in said laws may be made, of sufficient importance, in the 
opinion of the commissioner, to require a republication and distribu- 
tion thereof. 

ANNUAL REPORT. 

Seo. 65. It shall be the duty of said commissioner of common His annual 
schools to make an annual report, on or be/ore the twentieth day of report, 
November, in each and every year,* to the general assembly, wtien 
the body shall be in session any such year ; and when not in ses- 
sion in any one year, then the report shall be made to the governor, 
who shall cause the same to be published, and shall also communi- 
cate a copy thereof to the next general assembly. 

Sec. 66. The state commissioner, in the annual report of his What it shall 
lab rs and observations, shall present a statement of the condition present, 
an amount of all funds and property appropriated to purposes of 
education ; a statement of the number oi common scboo's in the 
stale, the number of scholars attending such schools, their sex, and 
the branches taught ; a statement of the number of priv-ite or 

* As amended April 8, 1856. 



22 



Salary of com- 
missioner. 



select schools in tbe state, so far as the same can be ascertained, 
and the number of scholars attending i-uch f-chocls, their fex, and 
the brancbes taught ; a statement of ibe number of teachers* insti- 
tutes, and the number of teachers attendij g them ; a statement of 
the estimates and accounts of the expenditures of the public school 
funds of every descn'ption ; a statement of plans for the man^igement 
and improvement of common schools, and such other information 
relative to the educational interests of the state as he m»y think of 
importance. 

Sec. 67. The said commissioner shall be entitled to receive for 
his services the sum of fifteen hundred dollars annually, payable 
quarterly, out of the state treasury, on the warrant ol the auditor of 
state. 



One-tenth of a 
mill to be as- 
sessed for 
libraries. 



Which is to be 
paid to state 
treasurer. 



Distribution 
of books and 
apparatus. 



SCHOOL LIBRARIES. 

Sec. 58 * For the purpose of furnishing school libraricijs and 
apparatus, to all the common schools in the state, and for the fur- 
ther purpose of sustaining and increasing such libraries, ai:)d keep- 
ing up a supply of school apparatus in the schools, as aforesaid, 
from time to time, as may be considered necessary, in order to 
afford equal facilities to the said schools in this respect, as nearly as 
practicable, there shall hereafter be assessed, collected and paid an- 
nually, in the same manner as the state and county revenues are 
assessed, collected and paid on the grand list of propeity taxable 
for state purposes, a state tax of one tenth of one mill on the dollar 
valuation, to be applied exclusively for the purpobes aforesaid, and 
the attendant expenses, under the direction of the commis ioner of 
common schools. In purchasing the libraries for the common 
schools, no books of sectarian or denominational character shall be 
purchased for said libraries. 

Sec. 59 The amount of said tax, when coPected, shall be paid 
over by the county treasurers to the state treasurer, at the time of 
making their annual settlement, and shall be paid out by that offi- 
cer for the purposes aforesaid, upon the warrant of the state audi- 
tor. 

Sec 60. It shall be the duty of the county auditor, when the 
said libraries or apparatus shall be received, to distribute the same 
to the clerks of the township boards of education, or other local 
school officers, in their respective counties, having in charge the in- 
terests of common schools ; and the books and apparatus so furn- 
ished, shall be deem<'d the property of said several boards, or local 
school officers, to whom the same may have been delivered, and 
shall not be subject to execution, sale or alienation, for any cause 
whatever. 



* An act to repeal the school library tax. 

Bection 1. Be it enact* d by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That 
the filty-eighth eection of the act of JMay 4, 1853, to provide for the reorganiza- 
tion, euptrvi&ion and mainteEance oi common s-choole, eo far a^ it rtlatt-s to the 
assessaeot of taxes fcr the purpose of lurD}8hirg and increasing school libraries 
and apparatus, be and the same is hereby repealed. 
SfiO. 2. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

K 10 BARD C. PARSONS, 
Speaker of the House of Rfprtsentatives. 
ROuEKT C. KlhK. 

President of the Senate. 
March 10, 1860. 



23 



Sec. 61. The local boards of education, or other school officers 
having charge of common schools, shall be held accountable for the 
preservation of said libraries and apparatus ; and they shall have 
power to pre&ciibe the time of taking and the periods of returning 
the books belonging to the libraries, and also to assess and collect 
the damages which may be done to the books by persons entitled to 
their use ; and also to provide for the safe keeping of the school ap- 
paratus. 

Skc 62. It shall be the duty of the local school boards, or other 
school officers having charge of schools, to appoint the librarians 
and determine the places where the libraries shall be deposited, se- 
lecting such central points as will best accommodate the schools and 
families of the districts or sub-dis^tricts, as hereinafter provided ; 
and every family in each district or sub district shall be entitled to 
the use of one volume at a time from the school library, although 
no member of such family attends any of the schools of the town- 
ship ; and the library shall be open, under the inspection of the li- 
brarian, at stated periods throughout the year, to be prescribed by 
the board of education, or other proper school officers, without re- 
gard to the sessions of the schools. 



Who account- 
able for same. 



Who to ap- 
point libra- 
rian, etc. 



Families enti- 
tled to books. 



STATE SCHOOL FUND. 

Sec. 63.* I For the purpose of affording the advantages of a free 
education to all the youth of this state, the state common school fund 
shall hereafter consist of such sum as will be produced by the an- 
nual levy aod assessment of one and a half mill upon the dollar val- 
uation, on the grand list of the taxable property of the state ; and 
there is hereby levied and assessed annu .lly, in addition to the rev- 
enues required lor general purpo>es, the said one and a half mill 
upon the dollar valuation, as aforesaid ; and the amount so levied 
and assessed, shall be collected in the same manner as other state 
taxes, and when collected, shall be annually distributed to the sev- 
eral counties of the state, in proportion to the enumeration of schol- 
ars, and be applied exclusively to the support of common schools. 

Sec. 64. f The debts which have heretofore been contracted by 
any school district for s-chool purposes shall be provided for by the 
estimate of the proper school boards created under the provisions of 
this act, and action may be brought against such bonrds to recover 
the same. When any judgment shall be obtained against any such 
school board, it shall be the duty of said board to make an estimate 
for the district or sub district, as said board may deem equitable, of 
the amount required to satisfy such judgment, with interest and 
costs Said amount so estimated shall be certified to the county au- 
ditor, shall be assesst^d by him upon the district or sub-district, as 
the case may be, and shall be collected and paid out in the same 
manner as other school taxes, upon the order of the clerk of said 
board upon the township treasurer, to satisfy the judgment afore- 
said. 

Sec 65. The process, in all suits against any township board of 
education, or other local officers having charge of any of the public 
schools under the provisions of this act, shall be by summons, and 



One and a half 
mills on the 
dollar to be 
assessed for 
school pur- 
poses, and col- 
lected and dis- 
tributed. 



Action there- 
for. 



Judgment 
against school 
board, how to 
be paid. 



Process 
against school 
officers. 



* As amended May 1, 1854. J L mittd by tax law of 18t>2, to one and three- 
tenths mi Hi. 
•f As amended February 18, 1859. 



24 



Duty of prose- 
cuting attor- 
ney. 



How BChools 
governed 'ib- 
der other laws 
may accept 
this act. 



Certain acts 
not repealed 
by this act. 



But such acts 
afidcted, and 
how. 



^cwer of 
t^ard to hold 
^^^'al estate. 



shall be executed by leaving a copy thereof wiih tbe clerk or Fecre- 
tary of such board, <r othtr Fcbool officets, at lenst ten days b«rfore 
tbe return day thereof. And arty fuii tiibei in favor of cr Hgriost 
any such board, or oiber school . fficers, sh^ll be prosecuted or de- 
fends d, as the case may be, by the prosecuiitg attorney ot the pro- 
per county, as a part ol his official duties. 

Sec. 66. The b cal board of education, or other local officers 
having charge of schco's in any city, township or \illage, in which 
conomon schools have been organ z^d under the act for tbe betier 
regulation of public schools in cities, towns, etc., or under any spe- 
cial act, shall b , and are hereby authorized, whenever tie} nrjay 
detm it expedient, to call a noeeiirg of the qualified voters of any 
such city, township or village, on giving tl;iriy days public notice 
thereof, to c^eteimine by vote whether ibe conomon schookot such 
city, township or village, shnli be coiiducted and managed in accord- 
ance with the provisions of this act ; and it a majority < f the voters 
are ftund lo be in lavor of the change, then said local board, or 
other local school officers, shall ibert after proceed, in accordance 
•with the provisions of this act, until their succej-sois .^bail be » lected 
and qualitied ; and such ciiy or village may provide by ordinance 
for the eleciiyn or appoiniment ol a board of education, presciibing 
their number and term of office ; and such board, whtn so elected 
or appointed and qualified, shall, together with the cleik or recoider 
of such city or village, possess tbe Srime powers and discharge the 
same dunes, wi bin the limits of their jurisdiction, as local directors 
and boards ot education ia townships. 

fcrEC. 67. This act shall not be so construed as to repeal, change, 
or modify in any respect, the several provisions of the " act for the 
support aud better regulrition of common schools in the town of 
Akron," passed February 8, 1847, and the acts amendatory there- 
to ; or tbe *• act tor tbe belter regulation ol schools in ci'its, towns, 
etc.," passed February 21, 1849. and the acts amendatory thereto, 
nor the several acts creating special school districts, or any oiher 
special acts in relation to schools, except that it is hrreby made tbe 
duty of the several boards of education, or other school officers act- 
ing under the provis-ions ol aoy of the acts to which reference has 
been made in this section, to make similar reports of school ttaiis- 
tics aniiually, as required of school officers by tnis act ; nor shall 
It be law Jul lor any county treasurer to pay over any poriion of the 
school fund lo any local treasur r, boaid of educatioo, or other 
school officer of any city, township, or village, organized as to 
schools ei'.htr under a general or a special law, excepc « n ih • order 
ot the auditer of the proper county ; and no such order shall be 
drawn by the county auditor, unless the local treasurer clerk, re- 
corder, or Secretary ot such boaid, or olber school offictr, shall 
first deposit with said auditor annually, an abstract of the enumera- 
tion of schol irs and other siati tics relative to the schools under 
their charge, as required by this act, of teachers, locdl directurs, 
and boards of education in town&hips. 

Sec. 68 The resptrciive township boards of education, and their 
successors in office, shall have power to take and hold in trust, for 
the use and benefit of any ceniral or high school, or ."-ub district 
school in the township, any grant or device of land, and any dona- 
tion or bequest of money or other personal proptrty, to be applied 



25 

by the board to tbe maintenance and support of any such school or 
schools, according to the inlention of the grant or donation. 

ACTS REPEALED. 

Sec. 69. That "an act for the support and better regulation of Repealing sec- 
common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintend- tion. 
ent," passed Mrirch seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty- 
eight ; an act to amend an act entitled ** an act for the support and 
bet er regulition of common schools, and to create permanently the 
office of superimendent," passed Maich sixteenth, one thousand 
eight hundred and thirty-nine ; an ** act to abolish the office of super- 
intendent of cooamoQ schools," passed Mnrch tweuty-tbird, one 
thousand eight hundred and forty ; an act to amend the act entitled 
"an act for the support and better regulation of coaimon fchoo's, 
and to create permanently the office of superintendent," of March 
seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and the act 
amendatory thereto, passed Ma»ch twenty-niotb, one thousand eight 
hundred and forty one ; an act to amend the act entiled *' an act for 
the suppott and b tter regulation of common schools, and to crea'e 
permanently the office of superintendent," p^issed March seventh, 
one thousand eight hundred and forty-two ; an act further to amend 
the act entitled **an act for tbe support and better regulati n of 
common schools, and to create permanently the office of superidtend- 
ent," passed March eleventh, one thousand eight hundred and forty- 
three ; an act to amend the act entitled ** an act for the support and 
better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently ihe 
offi -e of superintendent," passed March twelfth, one thou-and eight 
hundred and forty-four ; an ** act to amend the sixth secti. n of an 
act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to 
create permanently the office of superintendent," parsed March 
twelfth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-tive ; an act to amend 
the act entitled *• an act to amend an act for the support and better 
regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office 
ol superintendent," passed March twellth, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and forty-five ; '* an act authorizing school uirectors lo establish 
libraries for the use of common schools," passed February twenty- 
eighth, one thousand <'ight hundred and forty-six ; an act to amend 
an act passed March eleventh, one thousand eight hundred and forty- 
three, entitled an act further to amend the act entitled ** an act for 
the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create 
permanently the office of superin'endeni," passed March second, one 
thousand ^ight hundred and forty-six ; *'au act to provide fjr the 
appointment of county superintendents of common schools, and 
defining their duties in certain counties therein named," passed 
February eighth, one thousand eight hundred and forty seven ; an 
act further to amend the act entitled " an act to amend an act enti- 
tled an act for the support and better regula ion of common schools, 
ani to create permanently the office of superintendent," passed 
February eighth, one thousand eight huud.ed atid forty-seven ; au 
act to amend an act entitled " an act for the support and better regu- 
lation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of 
superintendent," passed March seventh, one ihous-ind eight hundred 
and thirl} -eight, and the acts amendatory thereto, oassed February 
twtnt}-fcurib» one thousand tight hundred and lorty-eight ; ** an act 



26 



to secure the returns of the statistics of common schools," passed 
Janunry twenty fir t, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; 
an act to provide for the establishment of common schools, for the 
education of black and mulatto persons, and to am«nd the act en- 
titled ** an act for the support and better regulation of common 
schools, and to create permanently the oflSce of superintendent,** 
passed M trch seventh, one thou and eight hundred and thiny-eight ; 
and the acts amendatory thereto, passed February twenty-fourth, 
one thousand eight hundred and forty eight ; an act to amend the 
act entitled '* an act for the support and better regulation of common 
schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent,*' 
passed March seventh, one tbou>and eight hundred and thirty-eight, 
and the acts amendatory thereto, passed February twenty -fourth, 
one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; an act to amend the 
eighteenth section of the school law ot March seventh, one thousand 
eight hundred and thirty -eight, passed February fourteen.h, one 
thousand eight hundred and fortjz-eight ; " an act to authorize the 
estabiishfiient of separate schools for tne education of colored chil- 
dren and for other purposes," passed February tenth, one thousand 
eight hundred and forty -nine ; an act to amend the act passed Feb- 
ruary twenty -fourth, one thousand eight hundred and totty-eight, 
entitled ** an act to amend the act entitled an act for the support 
and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently 
the office of superintendent," passed March seventh, one thousand 
eight hundred atid thirty-eigl t, and the acts amendatory thereto, 
passed March sixth, one thousand eight hundred and forty • nine ; 
an act to amend an act entitled •* an act for the support and better 
regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office 
of superintendent," passed March twelfth, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and forty. nine ; an act to amend an act entitled " an act for 
the support an 1 better regulation of common schojls, and to create 
permanently the office ot superintendent," passed March seventh, 
one thousand eight hundred and thirty eight, and the acts amenda- 
tory thereto, passed March twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and forty-nine ; an act in relation to school district tax, provid- 
ing for the annual sch )ol district meetings, and requiring maps of 
school districts, pas-ed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred 
and fifty ; an act for the appointment of a state board of public in- 
struction, passed March twenty-second, one thousand eight hundred 
and fifiy ; an act supplementary to the act for the appointment of a 
state board of pubhc instruction, passed March twenty-thi^d, one 
thousa d ei4ht hundred and fifty; an **act providing for school 
districts, and school district meetings, prescribing the duties of dis- 
trict officers and clerks and treasurers of townships, anii in<reasing 
the state and county common school funds," passed March twenty- 
fourth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one — be, and the same 
Liabilities in- are hereby rr pealed : Provided, that the obli^/ations or liabidties 
eurred and incurred, and the rights acquired under the provisions of any of the 
"<f^*^taff^ted ^^'^ hereby repealed, shall remain, and be in no wise altered or 
afi'ected, but may be enforced, as if this act had not been passed ; 
and the school officers in the several school districts of the state, as 
now organizdd, shall hold their respective offices, and perform their 



27 



respective duties, until tlie local directors herein provided for shall 
have been elected and qualified. 

JAMES C. JOHNSON, 
Speaker of the Hovse of Rep>esentative8, 
GEORGE KtX, 
President oj the Senate, pro tempore. 



SUPPLEMENTAL SECTIONS. 



[Passed Aprini,\^hl.] 



Sec. 1. No sub-disttict composed of the fractional parts of two 
or more townships, which is now organized or may be hereafter or- 
ganized, shall be disoJved, changed or altered, unless b^ ihe con- 
current action of the boards of education of the several townships 
which may have territory included in such sub-district. In raising 
and expendinfr money in such fractioral sub-district, other than for 
the payment of teachers, the ratio shall be the taxable property of 
the respective parts of townships in such sub-districts included. 

Sec. 2. If the directors of any sub-district dismiss any teacher 
for any friv< lous or insujBScient reason, such teacher may briog suit 
against such sub-district, and if, on the trial of the cause, a judg- 
ment be obtained agamst the sub-districts, the directors thereof shall 
certify to the cltrk of the board the sum so found due, and he shall 
issue an order to the person entitled thereto, upon the township 
treasurer, to pay the same out of any money io his hands belonging 
to said sub-district, and applicable to the payment of teachers. In 
such suits, process may be served on the clerk of the sub district, 
and service upon him shall be sufficient. 



Joint sub-dis- 
trict not to be 
dissolved 
without mutu- 
al consent 



Teacher may 
sue sub- dis- 
trict. 



An Act supplementary to an act to provide for the reorganization, supervision 
and maintenance of common schools, passed March 14, 1853. 

[Passed January 24, 1859.] 

Section. 1. Beit enacted hy the General Assembly oJ' the State of 
Ohio^ That the board of education of any incorporated village in 
this state may unite with the board of education of the township in 
which such village, or any part of it, be situated, for the purpose of 
establishing a central or high school within such township. The 
said boaid shnlj jointly agree upon an estimate of the probable cost 
thereof, aLd thereupon call separate meetings of the qualified voters 
of their respective districts, in the manner now provided by the 
twenty-first section of the act to which this is supplementary ; and 
said meetings, wh» n so convened, shall in all respects be held and 
conducted in accordance with the provisions of the section aforesaid : 
Provided that no such central or high school shall be so established, 
unless a majority of the voters at each of said meetings, shall vote 
in favor of the same. The further establishment of such central or 
high school, and the control of the same, when established, shall be 
ordered and regulated in such manoer as shall be agreed upon and 
directed by said boards of education interested therein. 



Union of vil- 
lage board of 
education 
with township 
board to estab 
lish central or 
high school. 

How estab- 
lished and 
controlled. 



28 

Sec 2. This act shall take eflfect and be in force from and after 
its passage. ') v 

WILLIl i B. WOODS, 
Speaker of the Hmse of RefyresetUaiives. 

Martin welkek.. 

I'resident of the Senate. 



An Act supplementary to the act entitled *'an act to provide for the reorganiza- 
zati<»n, suuervision and maintenance of commoa schools," passed March 1, 
[14,] 1853. 

[Passed February 10, 1860. J 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assfmhly of the State of 
Boards of edu- OhiOy That it shall be Uwful for any b >ard of education, organized 

eation author- under the act passed March 1, [14,] 1853. entitled *' an a tt to pro- 
ized to con- • ^ c ^\ •• j • ^ c 

demn schoal- "^'^ ^^ "® reorganiziUon, supervision and maintenauce of common 
house sites. schools,*' or organized under the act passed February 21,1 849, entitled 
** an act for thd better regulation of the public schoais in cities, toivns, 
&c ,*' in every case where it may be necessary to procure a school house 
site, and the said board of education and the owner thereof shall be 
unable, from any cause, to agree upon the sale and the purchase 
thereof, to make out an accurate survey and description of the parrf 
eel of land which the said board of education may desire to appro- 
priate for school house purposes, and file the same with the probate 
judge of the proper county, and thereupon the same proceedings of 
appropriation shall be had which are provided lor by the act entitled 
•* an act to provide for compensation to the owners of private prop- 
erly appropriated to the use of corporations," passed April 30, 1862, 
an 1 the various acts amendatory and supplementary thereto. 
Sec. 2. This act shall take efifect upon its passage. 

RICHARD C. PaKSONS, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
ROBERT C KIKK. 

President of the Senate. 



An Act to prevent and punish malicious injuries to church edifices, school- 
houses, dwelling-houses, and other baiidings. 

[Passed March 24, 186a ] 

Section 1. Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Definition and Okio^ That if any person shall wilfully and maliciou-iy ifij ire any 
penalty church edifice, school-house, dwelling-bouse, or other building, not 

bc'ing^ his own property, or in any way distigure ihe same with paint 
or otherwise, or deface the same by painting thereon any obscene 
words, figures or devices, or by posting ih reon any paper or other 
material bearing such words, figures or devices, he shal be punished 
by fine not exceeding one huntlred dollars, or by imprisonment in 
the couQi.y j lii not exceeding ninety days, or both said punishments, 
in the dlscrdtioa of the court. 

RICHARD C. PARSONS, 
Speaker of the House of R^oresentoUives. 
ROBERT C. KIRK. 

President iff the Senate. 



29 



An Act to prohibit members of boards of education from receiving compensation 
for their services. 

[Passed April 29, 1862.] 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That it shall be unlawful for any member of any board of 
education, or^anzed under any law of this stale, to receive any com- 
pensation for his services as member of said board, or to apply any 
money coming into his hands for the benefit of schools to his own 
use. 

Sec. 2. That any person violating either of the provisions of this 
act shall be liable to be prosecuted therefor, in a civil action to be 
instituted in the name of the Sate of Ohio, before any court having 
competent jurisdiction, and if found guilty in such action, shall be 
ordered and adjudged by such court to pay any sura not less than 
the amount of the compensation so unlawfully received, or the money 
80 unlawfully applied, nor exceeding twice any such sum. 

Sec. 3. All moneys collected under the provisions of this act 
shall be paid into the treasury of the township in which the action 
shall have origmat-d, for the use of common schools in the township. 

Seo. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 

JAMES R. HQBBELL, 
Spealcer of the Bouse of Representatives, 
B. STANTON, 

President of the Senate, 



Members to re- 
ceive no com- 
pensation. 



Penalty for 
violation of 
this act 



Fines collect- 
ed, how dis- 
posed of. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE AKRON SCHOOL LAWS. 

An Act for the support and better regulation of common schools in the town of 

Akron. 

[Passed February 8, 1847, XLVI vol Stat. 105.] 

Section 1 . Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That the electors in the town of Akron, in the county of six directors 
Summit, qualified to vote for members of the town council, sh^ll, at ehall be 
the time and place of holding the annual election for said members elected. 
of the town council in the year one thousand eight hundred and 
forty-seven, meet and elect six directors of the common school fur 
said town of Akron ; tjpo of whom shall serve for one year, two lor 
two years, and two for three years; the order of seniority to be 
determined by lot, by such directors, after the election ; and annu- 
ally thereafter, at the time and place above specified, there shall, in 
like manner, be two directors elected, who shall serve for three 
years, and until their successors are elected and qualified All va- 
cancies which may occur, shall be filled by the town council. 

Sec. 2. The said directors, within ten days alter their first Board of edu- 
appointm^nt as aforesaid, shall meet and organize, by choosing trom catioD.cffioera, 
their number a president, secretary, and treasurer; and such tieas- powers, eto. 
urer, b lore he enters on the duties of his said ofiSce, shall give bond 
and security, to be approved by the town council, and tiled in the 







Meetings of 
the board. 



Shall have 
control of com- 
mon schools, 
etc., in Akron. 



Number and 
grade of 
schools ; ad- 
mission of pu- 
pils, etc. 



office of the mayor of said town, conditioned for the faithful disburse- 
ment of all moneys that shall come into his hands as such treasurer, 
which bond shall be made payable to the state of Oh'o ; and when 
such bond shall be forfeited, it shall be the duty of the town council 
to sue and collect the same, for the use of the common schools in 
said town ; and the said directors, so organized and qualified, and 
their successors in office, shall be a bo^ly politic and corporate in 
law, by the name of " The Board of Education of the town of 
Akron," and, as such, and by such name, shall be authorized to 
receive all moneys accruing to said town, or any part thereof, for 
the use and benefit of the common schools in said town ; and the 
said board shall be capable of contracting and bf ing contracted with, 
suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, in any court 
of law or equity in this state ; and shall also be capable of receiving 
any gift, grant, donation, or devise, made <or the use of the common 
schools in said town ; and said board, by resoluti >n, shall direct the 
payment of all moneys that shall come into the hands of said treas- 
urer ; and no money shall be paid out of the treasury, except in 
pursuance of such resolution, and on the written order of the presi- 
dent, countersigned by the secretary. 

Sec. 3. That said board shall hold their meetings at such time 
and place as they may think proper; that any four of said board 
shall constitute a quorum ; that special meetings may be called by 
the president, or by any two members of the board, on giving two 
days' notice of the time and place of holding such meetings ; but at 
no special meeting, except all the directors be present, shall any 
resolution in relation to sites for school houses, or financial resolution, 
or order be passed, unless the two days' notice as a'oresaid be given, 
and the subject or subjects to be acted on, be specified in the notice, 
and a quorum of at least four members be present. 

Sec. 4. That said board of education shall have the entire man- 
agement and control of all the common schools in said town of 
Akron, and of all ihe houses, lands, and appurtenances already 
provided and set apart for common school purpos^s, as well as those 
hereafter to be provided for the same purposes ; and the said town 
of Akron, from and after the first Tuesday in June next, after the 
passage of this act, shall constitute, in law, but one sch lol district; 
and all moneys accruing to said district for school purposes, under 
any law of the state, shall be paid over to the treasurer for said 
board of education. 

Sec, 5. It shall be the duty of said board of education, so soon 
as they may realize sufficient funds for the purpose, to establish 
within the bounds of the town corporate of Akron, six or more pri- 
mary schools, to be located in different parts of the town, so as best 
to accommodate the inhabitants, in which the rudiments of an Eng- 
lish education shall be taught. It shall be the turther duty of said 
bo^rd to establish a central grammar school in said town, where 
instruction shall be given in *' the various studies and parts of study" 
not provided for in the primary school, and yet requisite to a respec- 
table Eng'ish education. To each school in this system there shall 
be graiuirA)us admission for the children, wards, and apprentices of 
all residents of the town corporate of Akron, and such other persons 
in the immed'ate vicinity as may own property, charged with a 
school tax in said town corporate of Akron, with the following re- 
strictions, namely : No pupil shall be admitted to the gramoaar school 



31 



who fails to sustain a thorough examination in the studies of the pri- 
mary school ; and the teacher shall have power, in either school, 
with the advice and direction of the b )ard of education, to exclude 
for misconduct, in extreme cases, and to classify the pupiU as the 
best good ot the school shall seem to rrqaire : Provided, however, 
that said board of edu^^ation shall not mak*^ any rules which will 
excludti from said primary schools any scholar who, by the general 
laws of this state, would be entitled to admission into the common 
school?, within said town, and said board shall not s > appropriate 
the school fund, which,- by the provisions of this act, shall come 
under their control, as to reduce the amount applicable to the sup- 
port of said primary schools, below the sum to which, under the 
general laws of this state, the common schools within said town 
would be entitled. 

Sec 6. The said board of education shall have power to make po-w-erof 
and enforce all nf'cessary rules and regulati ms for the government board. 
of teachers and pupils in said schools, to employ teachers, male and 
female, and pay them a suitable compensation, to purchase all neces- 
sary books and apparatus, to select sites for school-houses, and 
superintend the budding of the same upon their own plan, and to 
pay for the lands, and houses, and furniture, as well as other expen- 
ses of said school system, from the public moneys in the hands of 
the treasurer. 

Sec 7. The said board of education, within thir'y days after Town council 
their organization, shall report to the town council ot Akron the to levy taxes 
number and descripuon of buildings necessary for the purposes of for school pur - 
the common schools in said town, which report shall be in writ ng, poses. 
and shall specify the amount of money necessary to be raised to 
meet the expense of ereciing such buildings ; and such board shall 
also specify, in said report, the amount of m !ney necessary to be 
raised in addition to the money accruing to Siid town under the gen- 
eral school laws of the state, to defray all the other expenses ot said 
school system during the current year ; and thereupon the said 
town council shall proceed to levy a tax sufficient to meet such ex- 
penses of buildings and repairing school-houses and the expenses 
attendant upon the maintenance of said free schools in Akron, du- 
ring the whole year, customary vacations only exce|.>ted ; said tax 
to be levied and collected as other taxes of said town are or may be 
collected. *And it shall be the duty ot said board, on or before 
the first Monday in April, in every year iher^ after, lo m>ike report 
in writing to the town council', of all moneys received, how and for 
what purpose expended, with the proper vouchers, and su^h other 
information in reldtion to said schools as they may deem important, 
specif3/ing in said annual report the amount of money necessary to 
be raised by taxation, to defray the expenses of s-iid school system 
for the current year ; and said town council '•hall, annually, upon 
the coming in of such report, and wiihin thirty days thereafter, 
proceed to levy a tax t^ufficient to meet such expenses, to be levied 
and collected as other taxes of said town j- And the town council 
shall cause all such reports of the board oi education to be pub- 
lished, or so much thereof as they may deem necessary, the reports 



Reports of 
board. 



•Modified : see section 3 of the act of January 2d, lb4S, chapter III. 
not to exceed tour tniila on the dollar ; ste section 1 of 8*me act. 
fSee tax law passed April 30, lb62. 



Tax 



32 



Titlee to board 



Examiners of 
teachers and 
Bohools. 



Reports. 



Public exam- 
ination of 
schools. 



ing 



clause. 



Extended to 
Dayton. 

Right of repeal 



themselves to be left with the mayor of the town, open to public 
inspection. 

Sec. 8. All legal titles to lands and houses, and other property 
used for common school purposes in s-^id town of Akron, shall vest 
in the town council of Akron at the taking ejQfect of this act, and all 
titles acquired thereafter shall be in the name of said town council ; 
and said town council shall have power to sell, lease, and convey, 
any and all of the lands and tenements h^dd under and by virtue of 
this act, and to purchase other lands and tenemen s in more eligi- 
ble positions, by and with the advice of said board of education, but 
not otherwise. 

Seo. 9. The town council shall, immediately after the appoint- 
ment of directors, as hereinbefore provided, appoint three competent 
persons to serve as school examiners of sai 1 town, all of whom shall 
be citizens of Akron ; one to serve until the first Tuesday in June, 
one thousand eight hundred and forty - eigh t ; one until the first 
Tuesday in June, one thousand eight bun )r(id and for^y-nino ; and 
one until the first Tuesday in June, one thousand eight hundred and 
fifty, and until their successors are qualified ; and annually, at the 
first regular meeting of the town council, after the annual election 
for members of that body, they shall appoint one person for exami- 
ner, to serve for three years, and until his successor is qualified; 
and the couacil shall fill all vacancies that may occur by death, re- 
moval, or otherwise. The eximiners, or any two of them, shall 
examine such pers )ns as may apply for that purpose ; and if they 
find the applicant qualified, they shall give him a certificate, naming 
the branches he is qualified to teach, that they have carefully in- 
quired into his character, and believe it to be moral and good, and 
that they believe him to be well qualified to govern and teach ; 
they shall, also, in every case where two of their number concur, 
have power to annul any certificate previousl. given, and the per- 
son holding the same shall be discharged from the public schools in 
said town : they shall, also, separately or otherwise, to^^ether with 
such other persons as may be appointed by the mayor, visit said 
schools at least as often as once in every quarter, observe the dis- 
cip ine, mode of instruction, progress of the scholars, and such other 
circumstances as they may deem of interest ; and, f-erai-annually, 
at buch times as the board of education shall [appoint.] ihey shall 
report their proceedings to the town council, and also to the boaid 
ol education, with such suggestions as they may think proper, the 
publication of which shall be in the discretion of the town council. 

ISec. 10. Annually, at such time as the board shad appoint, 
public examinations of all the schools shall be had, under the direc- 
tion of the mayor, council, the board of education, and the examiners. 

Sec. 11. So much of the general school law, and so much of 
any and all other laws of this state, general or local, as may be in* 
consistent with this act, or any of its provisions, is hereby repealed 
as to said town of Akron. 

Sec. 12. The pr»wer conferred upon the board of education of 
the town of Akron, in the fifth section of this act, is hereby conferred 
upon the managers of the common schools of the city of Dayton. 

Sec. 13. Any future legislature may alter, amend, or repeal 
this act. WILLIAM P. CU ( LER,. 

Speaker of the House of Represetdatives. 
EDSON B OL >S, 

iSjpeaker of the Senate, 



33 



CHAPTER III. 



Powers of the 
board of edu- 
cation. 



An act to amend the act entitled " An act for the support and better regulation 
of Common Schools in the town of Akron," passed February 8, 1847. 

[Passed January 28, 1848, XL VI vol. Stat. 110.] 

Section 1 . £e it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of Amount of tax 
Ohio, That the amount of tax hereafter to be assessed to defray 
the expense of the school system, introduced into said town by vir- 
tue of the act to which this is an amendment, shall not exceed in 
any one year, four mills on the dollar of the taxable property in said 
town. 

Sec. 2. The board of education of the town of Akron shall have 
full power and authority to determine what branches of education 
shall be taught in any and all of said schools under their manage- 
ment and control ; and said board shall also have power, at their 
discretion, to restrict the right of admission into any and all of said 
schools, to the children, wards, and apprentices of actual residents, 
within the limits of the town corporate of Akron, with power to ad- 
mit scholars from abroad, upon such terms and conditions as said 
board shall see fit to prescribe. 

Sec. 3. That on or before the first Monday of June, in each Duties of aud 
year, it shall be the duty of the said board of education to make i^^r and treas 
known to the auditor of the county of Summit, the amount of tax ^^^^' 
which they may want levied for school purposes during the current 
year ; and thereupon it shall be the duty of said county auditor to 
assess the taxable property in said town of Akron, as the same ap- 
pears upon the grand list ; and the said tax shall be collected by the 
county treasurer at the same time with the state and county taxes, 
and in the same manner ; and, when collected, the amount shall be 
paid over to the treasurer of said board of education. 

Sec. 4. That so much of the act to which this is an amendment 
aj< conflicts with the provisions of this act be and the same is here- 
bv repealed, 

JOSEPH S. HAWKINS, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives* 
CHARLES B. GODDaRD, 

Speaker of the Senate, 



Repealing 
clause. 



CHAPTER IV. 

A a act to provide for extending the provisions of an act entitbd " An act for 
tke support and better regulation of common schools in the town of Akron," 
and the amendatory acti thereto, to the cities and incorporated towns of 
this state. 

[Passed February 14, 1848, XLVI vol. Stat. 48.] 

Section 1 . Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of All incorpora- 

OkiOf That every incorporated town or city in this state, shall have ted towns may 

the provisions of the act entitled *• an act for the support and better 5^^"?^^^.!^®^"?' 

regulation of common schools in the town of Akron,'* and the ^^ 

3 



der preceding 
acts, and how. 



34 



Election of di- 
rectors. 



How number 
of voters ascer- 
tained. 

Eepealicg 
clause. 



amendatory act thereto, passed by the forty- sixth general assembly 
of this state, extended to all or any of the said incorporated towns 
or cities, wherever two-thirds of the qualified voters thereof shall 
petition the town or city council in favor of having the provisions of 
said acts so extended. 

Sec. 2. That whenever two-thirds of the qualified voters of any 
city or incorporated town shall petition the town or city council in 
favor of having the provisions of said acts extended to said city or 
incorporated town, the electors qualified to vote for members of the 
town or city council, shall assemble at the time and place within said 
town or city, of wbich at least ten daj/s* previous notice shall be given 
by the city or town council, by posting written or printed notices in 
at least three of the most public places in said city or incorporated 
town, and then and there proceed to the election of six direc- 
tors, by ballot, who shall serve, and in all respects be governed by 
the provisions of the act entitled " an act for the support and bet- 
ter regulation of common schools in the town of Akron,*' and the 
act amendatory thereto ,* and the common schools in said city or 
incorporated town shall, in all respects, be governed and organized 
according to the provisions of said acts. 

Sec. 3. That the last preceding election in said city or incor- 
porated town, shall be the basis upon which to determine the num-^ 
ber of qualified voters. 

Sec. 4. That all acts, or parts thereof, inconsistent with the 
provisions of this act, are hereby repealed : Provided, that this act 
shall not extend to, nor be in force in the city of Cincinnati* 

JOSEPH S. HAWKINS, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
CHARLES B. GODDARD, 

Speaker of the Senate, 



CHAPTER V. 



Boards of edu- 
cation may 
adopt certain 
laws. 



An act to amend an act entitled "an act for the support and better regulation 
of common schools in the town of Akron," passed l^ebruary 8, lb47, and 
the acis amendatory thereto. 

[Passed March 15, 1849, XLVII ml. Stat. 45.] 

Section 1. Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That the board of education in any city, town, or village, 
which has adopted the act entitled " an act for the support and bet- 
ter regulation of common schools in the town of Akron,** passed 
February 8, 1847, and the acts amendatory thereto, may adopt the 
eleventh, twelfth, and fifteenth sections of the act entitled " an act 
for the better organization of the public schools in cities, towns," 
etc., passed February 16, 1849, whenever, in the opinion of said 
board of education, the educational interests of such city, town, or 
village, may require it. 

Sec. 2. All acts, or parts thereof, inconsistent with the provi- 
sions of this act, are hereby repealed. 

JOHN G. BRESLIN, 
Speaker of the Hovse of Representatives, 
BREWSTER RANDALL, 

Speaker of the Senate, 



35 



An aefc supplementary to an act entitled "an act for the support and bet'er 
regulation of common schools in the town of Akron," passed February 8, 
lb47, (passed April 12, 1861). 

[Passed March 19, I860.] 

Section 1 . Be it enacted by the Oeneral Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That the boards of education in the town of Atron, or in 
any city, town or village, which has adopted the act entitled ** an 
act for the support and better regulation of common schools in the 
town of Akron," passed February 8, 1847, shall have power at 
their discretion, to provide for the establishment of German schools 
for the instruction of such youth as may desire to study the German 
language, or the German and English languages together. 

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force on its passage. 

KICHARD C. PARSONS, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
ROBERT C. KIRK, 

President of the Senate, 



An act supplementary to an act entitled "an act for the support and better Swan's Rev. 
regulation of common schools in the town of Akron, passed February 8, Stat. 854. 
1847. 

[Passed March \^,\Qm.] 



Section 1 . Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That the board of ezaminers for any city, town or village 
which has adopted the above recited act, and the acts amendatory 
thereto, shall state in the certificates they issue to teachers the 
period of time for which said certificates shall be valid, which period 
shall not be less than six months nor more than two years, and no 
certificate shall be valid for any other period than that named in it. 
Sec 2. No person shall be permitted to teach in any of the 
public schools of said city, town or village, without such certificate, 
or for any other time than that specified in said certificate. 
Sec. 3. This act shall be in force from and after its passage. 

RICHARD C. PARSONS, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
ROBERT C. KIRK, 

President of the Senate, 



Certificate of 
examiner to 
state time such 
certificate 
shall be valid. 



No person to 
teach without 
certificate. 



CHAPTER VI. 
GENERAL ACT FOR SCHOOLS IN CITIES, TOWNS, ETC. 

An act for the better regulation of the public schools in cities, towns, etc. 
[Passed February 21, 1849, XLVII vol. Stat. 22.] 

Section 1 . Be it enacted by the Oeneral Assembly of the State of Towns of 2f)0 

Ohio, That any incorporated city or town in the state, or any in- inhabitants 

corporated town or village, except such city, town or village, as is ^hool^dis"^ ^ 

now, in whole or in part, governed as to schools by some special triots. 
law heretofore passed, containing within the town or village plot, as 
laid out and recorded, two hundred inhabitants or more, with the 



36 



Qualified vo- 
ters to vote for 
or against the 
adoption of 
this act. 



Manner of 
casting such 
vote. 



Directors to be 
chosen. 



Directors to 
organize. 



Their power 
and duties. 



territory attached, or hereafter to be attached to said city, town, or 
village, for school purposes, may be organized into and established 
as a single school district, in the naanner and with the powers here- 
inafter specified; but the provisions of this act shall not apply to 
any city, town or village, or any part thereof, which is now gov- 
erned as to schools by any special law. 

Sec. 2. That, in order to such organization, written notices 
shall be posted up in three or more of the most public places in 
said contemplated district, signed at least by six resident freeholders 
of the same, requesting the qualified electors in said district to as- 
semble upon a day, and at some suitable place in said district, to 
be named in said notices, then and there to vote, by ballot, for or 
against the adoption of this act, which notice shall be so posted up 
at least ten days next prior to said meeting. 

Sec. 3. That the electors assembled at said time and place shall 
proceed to appoint a chairman, assistant chairman, and clerk, who 
shall be judges of said election. That the electors in favor of the 
adoption of this act for said district, shall write upon their ballots, 
** school law," and those opposed thereto shall write upon their bal- 
lots, **no school law ;'* the adoption or rejection of this act to be 
determined by a majority of the votes to be cast in the manner 
aforesaid. 

i:^'EC. 4. That in case a majority of the votes shall have been 
cast for said law, the electors of said districts shall assemble at the 
place last aforesaid, within twenty days from the time of the adop- 
tion of said act, of which at least ten days' previous notice shall be 
given by said chairman and clerk, in the manner aforesaid, and shall 
then choose, by ballot, six directors of the public schools of said 
district, two of whom shall serve for one year, two for two years, 
and two for three years, the time that each shall serve to be desig- 
nated on the ballots ; and annually thereafter there shall be chosen, 
in the same manner, two directors, each of whom shall serve for 
three years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified ; 
such intermediate vacancies as may occur to be filled by the acting 
directors until the next annual election, when such vacancies shall 
be filled by the electors. 

Sec. 5. That said directors, within ten days after their appoint- 
ment as aforesaid, shall meet and organize by choosing from their 
number a president, secretary and treasurer; that said treasurer, 
before he enters upon the duties of his office, shall give bond pay- 
able to the state of Ohio, with security, to be approved by said 
board, and to be by them kept, conditioned for the faithful discharge 
of his duties as such treasurer. 

Sec. 6. The said directors, and their successors in ofifice, shall 
be a body corporate, by the name of the board of education of said 
city, town, or village, and, as such, and by such name, shall receive 
all moneys, and other property, belonging or accruing to said dis- 
trict, or to said city, town, or village, or any part of the sume, for 
the use or benefit of the public schools therein ; and the said board 
shall be capable of conti acting and being contracted with, suing and 
being sued, pleading and being impleaded, in any court of law or 
equity ; and also shall be capable of receiving any gift, grant, be- 
quest, or devise, made for the use of the public schools in said city, 
town or district, and all moneys accruing to said city, town or district, 



37 



for school purposes, under any law of this state, shall be paid over 
to the treasurer of said board of education. 

Sec. 7. Said board of education may hold stated naeetings at 
such times and places in said district as they may appoint, four mem- 
bers of said board, at al! meetings thereof, constituting a quorum 
for business ; that special meetings thereof may be called by the 
president, or by any two members, on giving one day's notice of the 
time and place of the same ; and said board, by resolution, shall 
direct the payment of all moneys that shall come into the hands of 
the treasurer, and no money shall be paid out of the treasury except 
in pursuance of such resolution, and on the written order of the 
president, countersigned by the secretary. 

Sec. 8. That whenever said board shall deem it necessary to 
purchase or erect a school-house, or school houses, for said district, 
or to purchase sites for the same, they shall call a meeting of the 
legal voters in said district, by giving at least ten days' notice of the 
time, and place, and object of said meeting, in some newspaper 
printed in, and in general circulation in such district, if any such 
there be , and if there be no such newspaper, then by posting up 
written or printed notices thereof, at five or more of the most public 
places in said district, and the president of said board, and in his 
absence one of the other directors, shall act as chairman of said meet- 
ing, and said meeting may determine, by a majority vote, upon the 
erection of a school-house or school-houses, and the purchase of a 
site or sites therefor, and the amount of money to be raised for the 
purpose aforesaid, and the time, or times when the same shall be 
paid, which money, so voted, shall be thereupon certified by the 
board of education, by its chnirman and secretary, to the auditor of 
the county, and shall be assessed in said district, collected and paid 
over to the treasurer of said district, in the same manner as the tax 
hereinafter provided for in the twelfth section of this act. 

Sec. 9. It shall be the duty of said board, so soon as the means 
for that purpose can be provided, to establish in said district an ad- 
equate number of primary schools ; to be so located as best to ac- 
commodate the inhabitants thereof, and in which the rudiments of 
education shall be taught, and it shall be the further duty of said 
board to establish in said district a suitable number of other schools 
of a higher grade or grades, wherein instruction shall be given in 
such studies as may not be provided for in the primary schools, the 
number of schools, and also of the dififerent grades thereof, to be 
determined by said board ; and it shall be the further duty of said 
board to decide what branches shall be taught in each and all of 
said schools, provided that no other language than the English or 
German shall be taught therein, except with the concurrence of 
two- thirds of said board. 

Sec 10. Admission to said schools shall be gratuitous to the 
children, wards and apprentices of all actual residents in said dis- 
tricts, who may be entitled to the privileges of the public schools, 
under the general laws of this state, provided that said board shall 
have power to admit to said schools other pupils, upon sach terms, 
or upon the pay nent of such tuition, as they may prescribe. 

Sec. 11. S^id board shall have power to make all necessary 
regulations for said schools, to prescribe and enforce rules fo* the 
admission of pupils into the same, not inconsistent with the preced- 



Meetings of 
the board. 



Money, how 
paid out. 



School houses, 
how built. 



Board to es- 
tablish prima- 
ry schools. 



High schools. 



Branches to be 
taught. 



What scholars 
admitted. 



General pow- 
ers of the 
board. 



38 



How long 
schools to be 
kept in each 
year. 



School tax, 
how levied 
and collected. 



Not to exceed 
four mills on 
the dollar. 



Board shall 
appoint school 
examiners. 



Duty of exam- 
iners. 



iog section, and the examination that pupils must pass preparatory 
to admission into the schools of higher grade than the primary ; to 
subdivide said school district, if they shall think proper ; to select 
sites for school-houses ; to superintend the building of the same, and 
to pay therefor, their appurtenances, iurniture and apparatus, to 
borrow money for the erection of school-houses, upon a majority 
vote of Sdid district therefor, and to incur all other expenses ot said 
school system, and pay the same from the public moneys of said 
district. 

Sec. 12. It shall be the du*y of said board to keep said schools 
in operation not less than thirty nor more than forty-four weeks of 
each year, to determine the amount of the annual tax to be raised 
for the purpose aforesaid, including all the necessary expenses of 
said schools, except for the erection of school houses and the pur- 
chase of sites ; and on or before the first day of July, of each year, 
to make known the amount of such tax to the auditor of the county 
in which said district is situate, and thereupon it shall be the duty 
of said auditor to assess the same upon the taxable property of the 
said district as the same appears on the grand list in his office, and 
the said tax shall be collected by the county treasurer in the same 
manner and at the same time with the state and county taxes, and 
•when collected shall be paid over to the treasurer of said board : 
Provided, however, that the tax to be assessed under this section 
shall not exceed four mills on the dollar upon the taxable property 
of said district, as the same appears upon the grand list : Provided, 
further, that in case the amount so authorized to be raised, together 
with the other school moneys of said district, shall be insufficient to 
support said schools for the portion of the year mentioned in this 
section, that said board of education may require such sum as may 
be necessary to support the same for the residue of said time, to be 
charged at the discretion of said board upon the tuition of the pupils 
attending such schools: Provided, however, that the children of 
indigent parents, or orphans who are unable to pay such charges, 
shall not be excluded from said schools for the non-payment of the 
same ; and it shall be the further duty of said board to keep an ac- 
curate account of their proceedings, and of their receipts and dis- 
bursements for school purposes, and at the annual meeting for the 
choice of directors in said district to make report of such receipts, 
and the sources from which the same were derived, and of said dis- 
bursements, and the objects to which the same were applied ; and 
they shall also make report at the same time of such other matters 
relating to said schools as they may deem the interest of the same 
to require. 

Sec. 13. That said board of education, within twenty days after 
their election, shall appoint three competent persons, citizens of said 
district, to serve as school examiners of the public schoo's therein, 
one to serve foi- one year, one for two years, and one for three years, 
from the time of their appointment, and until their successors shall 
be appointed ; and annually thereafter said board shall appoint one 
examiner, to serve for three jears, and until his successor is ap- 
pointed and qualified ; and said board shall fill all vacancies that 
may occur from death, removal, or otherwise. Said examiners, or 
any two of them, shall examine any person that may apply for that 
purpose, with the intention of becoming teachers in any of the schools 



39 



in said district ; and if they find the applicant, in their opinion, quali- 
fied to teach in any of said schools, and to govern the same, and of 
good moral character, they shall give the said applicant a certificate, 
naming the branches in which the holder of said certificate was 
found qualified to teach, and no person shall be permitted to teach 
in said schools without such certificate ; and said examiners may, in 
all cases where two of their number concur, have power to annul 
such certificate, and, when so annulled, the person holding the same 
shall be discharged as a teacher of said schools ; said examiners 
shall also, separately or otherwise, together with said board of edu- 
cation, or any of them, or such persons as they may appoint or 
invite, visit said schools as often as once in every term, and observe 
the discipline, mode of teaching, progress of the pupils, and such 
other matters as they may deem of interest, and make such sugges- 
tions, and report thereupon to said board, as they may think proper, 
which report may be published at the discretion of said board. 

Sec. 14. Upon the adoption of this act in the manner herein Aetsiepealed. 
provided, by any city, town, village, or district, all laws now in force 
tlysrein, ioconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed. 

fc'Eo. 15. That said board of education, or the treasurer thereof, Treasurer may 
shall have power to collect any charge or account for tuition, in the collect charges 
same manner as the treasurer of any common school district in this ^^ 
state is now, or may hereafter be, authorized to collect any such 
charge or account. 

JOHN G. BRESLIN, 
Speaker of the Bouse of Representatives, 
BREWSTER RANDALL, 

Speaker of the Senaie, 



CHAPTER VII. 

An act to amend the act entitled "an act to provide for the organization of 
cities and incorporated villages," passed May 3, 185'2. 

[Passed March 11, 1853. LI vol. Stat. 364.J 

Sec. 1 2. That the ninety-eighth section of said act be and the 
same is hereby so amended as to read as follows: That the council 
of any municipal corporation shall not authorize any loan or appro- 
priation not predicated on the revenues of the corporation for the 
current fiscal year, and shall not authorize any order or appropria- 
tion of money when there is not in the city treasury money unappro- 
priated sufficient to pay such appropriation ; and any appropriation 
otherwise made or authorized shall be held and deemed utterly void 
and of no effect as against said corporation : Provided, however, 
that for the purpose of purchasing necessary grounds and erecting 
suitable school buildings for the use of public schools, the council of 
any such corporation may, at the request of the board of education 
of said corporation, make sufficient appropriation therefor, and shall 
have power to borrow money upon the credit of such corporation, 
sufficient for the aforesaid purposes, at such rates of interest as said 



Certain appro- 
priations not 
authorized. 



Council may 
borrow money 
for school pur- 
poses. 



40 

Loan.howper- council may deem proper; and, for the purpose of efifecting such 
fected. Iq^jj^ ^]jg gj^jjj council shall have power to pledge the faith of said 

corporation for the payment of both principal and interest, including 
the power to levy a tax for the payment of the same, whenever the 
same may become due, and to make and execute such bonds, or 
other evidences of debt, and payable at such times and places as 
shall be agreed upon by the parties so contracting, which said bonds 
or other evidences of debt may be made transferable and redeemable 
in such form and at such times and places as may be therein desig- 
nated ; and the necessary grounds shall be procured, and the said 
School build- school buildings hereby authorized shall be constructed under the 
mgs, how con- direction of, and in accordance with, a plan or plans furnished by the 
structed. board of education of said corporation, * * * * 



Extending act 
in referee ce to 
public schools. 



Single school 
districts. 



Board of edu- 
cation. 



Title to real 
estate to vest 
in board. 



C HAPTER VIII, 

An act to amend the " act for the better re?;ulation of the Public Schc9ls in 
cities, towns, etc.," passed February 21, 1849. 

{Passed March 13, 1850. XLVIII vol Stat. 40.] 

Section 1. £e it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That the act for the better regulation of the public schools ia 
cities, towns, etc., passed February 21, 1849, be and the same is 
hereby extended to incorporated townships and to school districts, 
now or hereafter to be organized, which shall adopt the same in the 
manner specified in the second and third sections of said act : Pro- 
vided, however, that said act shall not be so extended to any town- 
ship or school district containing less than five hundred inhabitants, 
unless said school district consists, in whole or in part, of an incor- 
porated town or village. 

Sec. 2. Townships and school districts to which said act may be 
extended in the manner aforesaid, shall thereafter be known and 
recognized in law as single school districts, with all the powers, 
rights and franchises which, for educational purposes, are or may be 
conferred upon incorporated cities, towns and villages, in virtue of 
the act aforesaid ; and the board of education of such townships and 
school districts shall be elected and organized in the same manner 
as is provided in the fourth and fifth sections of said act, and shall 
have like powers, rights and privileges, and perform like duties, as 
boards of education of cities, towns, etc., under the act aforesaid. 

Sec. 3. The title to all real estate, and other property, belonging, 
for school purposes, to any city, town, village, township, or district, 
or to any part of the same, which is or may be organized into a 
single school district, in accordance with this act, or the act to which 
this is an amendment, shall be regarded in law as vested in the 
board of educasion thereof, for the support and use of the public 
schools therein, and said board may dispose of, sell and convey said 
real estate, or any part of the same, by deed, to be executed by the 
president of said board, upon a majority vole for such sale at any 
regular meeting of the electors of said district. 



41 

Sec. 4, The board of education of any city, town, village, town- Board to have 
ship, or school district, organized for the support of schools under ^°J5e^ci^ndren 
this act, or the act to which this is amendatory, or the act for the ^nder six 
support and better regulation of common schools in the town of years of age. 
Akron, and the acts amendatory thereto, or uncier any special local 
act, shall have authority to exclude from the public schools in such 
city, etc., all children under the age of six years 

BENJAMIN F. LEITER, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
CHARLES C. CONVERSE, 
Speaker of the Senate. 



CHAPTER IX. 

An act to provide for the completion of certain contracts heretofore made by 
school directors. 

[Passed February 6, 1854, LII vol. Stat. 17.] 

Section 1. Be it enacted hi/ the General Assembly of the State of 
OhiOf That in all cases where pursuant to law, contracts have been ToempDwer 
made or entered into for the sale of school-house sites or lands, the ^°^°®^iP 
property of any school district heretofore existing in this state, and cation to com- 
the sale remains to be perfected by conveyance, the township board plete certain 
of education, in the township where such property may be situate, 
shall be authorized to complete the same by executing a conveyance 
in the manner prescribed in section eleven of the act entitled an act 
to provide for the reorganization, supervision and maintenance of 
common schools, passed March 14, 1853, on full compliance there- 
with by the purchaser or purchasers. 

F. C. LeBLOND, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives . 
ROBERT J. ATKINfeON. 
President of the Senate, pro tern. 



contracts. 



CHAPTER X. 

An act relating to common schools. 
[Passed April 10, 1856, LlII vol. Stat. 200 ] 

Whereas, certain boards of education, organized under an act for preamble, 
the better regulation of public schools in cities, towns, etc., passed 
February 21, 1849; and certain boards of education organized 
under an act to provide for the reorganization, supervision and 
maintenance of common schools, passed March 14, 1863, acting 
under said acts have by agreement between said boards, under the 
act passed February 21, 1849, and the boards, under the act passed 
March 14, 1853, made annexations and transfers of territory to and 



42 



Transfers 
made valid, 



Power to 
transfer. 



from the districts provided for in said acts respectively for the pro- 
motion of education, according to the true intent and meaning of 
said acts ; and whereas, doubts exist as to the legality of such°an- 
nexations and transfers of territory ; therefore, 

Section 1 . Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohioy That all annexations or transfers of territory to or from the 
districts provided for in the said act passed February 21, 1849, and 
in the said act passed March 14, 1853, made pursuant to said acts 
respectively, and the agreement of the boards of education organ- 
ized under said acts respectively, heretofore made or agreed upon, 
or which shall hereafter be thus made or agreed upon, shall be held 
to be as valid as if the same had been specially and more particu- 
larly provided for in said acts, or the acts amendatory thereto. 

Sec 2. Be it further enacted, That the boards ot education of 
any township, and the boards of education of any city, or incorpo- 
rated village, or union school district created by any law of this 
state, shall have power according to the general provisions of said 
act passed March 14, 1853, by mutual agreement between the town- 
ship board and the city or village board to transfer territory to or 
from the respective districts under the control of said respective 
boards. 

Sec 3. That this act shall be in force from and after its passage. 

N. H. VAN VORHES, 
Speaker of the Bouse of Representatives. 
THOMAS H. FORD, 

President of ike Senate, 



When official 
reports to be 
made. 



School year. 



CHAPTER XI. 

An act providirg for recording, printing, and distributing the journals of the 
general assembly, and the laws and public documents. 

[Passed April 8, 1856, LIII vol Stat. 173.] 

Sec. 6. All county, township, city and village officers, and all 
officers and boards of officers, of all state institutions and buildings, 
and all officers connected with the public works of the state, and all 
corporations (except such as by their characters are required to 
make their reports at some other specified time) which are now, or 
may hereafter be required by law, to make annual reports for any 
purpose to any state officer or officers, shall make out the same on 
or before the fifth day of November of each year, and forthwith 
transmit the same to the proper officer or officers. For the purpose 
of making out all such reports as come within the provisions of this 
section, the year shall begin on the first day of November of each 
year, and end on the last day of October of the succeeding year ; 
provided, that the school year shall begin on the first day of Sep- 
tember annually, and close on the last day of the following August ; 
and all school officers and township officers acting as such, who are 
or may be required to make annual reports to the county auditor, 
shall make out the same and transmit them to the county auditor on 
or before the first day of October following the expiration of the 
school year. 



43 



Sec. 7. All state officers, and boards of officers, and the officers 
of all such institutions and buildings, as are now, or may hereafter 
be required to make annual reports to the gentral assembly, or to 
the governor, shall hereafter make such reports to the governor on 
or before the twentieth day of November of each 5 ear, and the gov- 
ernor shall cause the same to be printed as soon thereafter as prac- 
ticable, by the printer having the contract for ibis branch of the 
public printing, and the governor shall lay before the general assem- 
bly all such reports, in printed form, at the same time that he lays 
before it his regular message. But nothing in this section, or in 
this act, shall be held to modify, ia any respect, the existing laws 
in relation to the annual report of the state board of agriculture. 



Report? of 
state officers. 



CHAPTER XII. 



TEACHERS' INSTITUTES. 



An act to encourage teachers' institutes. 
[Passed FebruarT^ 8, 1847, XLV vol. StaL 67.] 

Whereas, it is represented that, in several counties, associations 
of teachers of common schools, called teachers' institutes, have been 
formed, for the purpose of mutual improvement and advancement in 
their profession, -which, it is represented, have already accomplished 
much to elevate the standard of common school instruction in their 
respective counties ; therefore, in order to encourage such associa- 
tions, and thus promote the cause of popular education. 

Section 1 . Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
OhiOf That in the several counties mentioned in the fifth section, in 
which such associations now exist, or in which such associations 
shall be hereafter formed, it shall be lawful for the county commis- 
sioners of said counties to appropriate the annual avails, or any part 
thereof, of the fund provided for in the third section of the act passed 
March 19, 1848, entitled ** an act declaratory of, and amendatory 
to, an act entitled * an act providing for the distribution and invest- 
ment of this state's proportion of the surplus revenue,' " passed 
March 28, 1837, for the purposes of such associations. 

Sec. 2. The moneys so appropriated shall, upon the order of the 
county auditor, be paid over to, and expended by the board of school 
examiners of the proper county ; the one-half thereof, at least, to the 
payment of suitable persons as instructors and lecturers to such asso- 
ciations, and the balance to the purchase and support of a suitable 
common school library, for the use of such associations. 

Sec. 3, Every teacher of common schools of the county, and 
every person of the county intending to become a teacher of common 
schools within the next twelve months, shall have the right, without 
charge for instruction, to attend the meetings of such associations, 
and enjoy all their benefits. 

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of all the county boards of school 
examiners, in the several counties mentioned in the fifth section, to 



Preamble, 



County com- 
misaioners 
may appropri ■ 
ate annual pro- 
ceeds of sur 
plus revenue. 



Moneys to be • 
paid to lectur- 
ers, and for 
library. 



Who shall 
have a right 
to attend the 
meetings of 
associations. 



44 



County bDards report, annually, to the secretary of state, during tlie month of De- 
of examiners cember, the number of male and female teachers examined by them 



to report to 
secretary of 
state. 



during the jear, the number of certificates given, how many author- 
ized the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic only ; and when 
moneys shall have been received by virtue of this act, they shall 
also report how it hns been expended, and with what results. 

Sec. 5. This act shall be in force only in the counties of Ashta- 
bula, Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Erie, Lorain, Medina, Trumbull, 
Portage, Summit, Delaware. 

WILLIAM P. CUTLER, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
EDSON B OLDS, 

Speaker of the Senate. 



CHAPTER XIII 



Former law- 
made general. 



Former act in 
reference to li- 
braries amend- 
ed. 



An act to amend an act to encourage teachers' institutes, and to extend the pro- 
visions of the acts providing for teachers' institutes, and county superinten- 
dents, to the several counties of this state. 

[Passed February 24, 1848, XLVI vol. Stat. 86.] 

Sec. 1. That the provisions of the act entitled " an act to encour- 
age teachers' institutes," and the act entitled ** an act to provide for 
the appointment of county superintendents of common schools, and 
defining their duties in certain counties therein named,'' passed Feb- 
ruary, 1847, be and the same are hereby extended to all the coun- 
ties in this state. 

Sec. 2. That the second section of the act entitled *' an act to 
encourage teachers' institutes," passed February 8, 1 847, is hereby 
so amended that all money used under the provisions of said sec- 
tion, in purchasing libraries, shall be used in purchasing and sup- 
portino suitable common school libraries, for the several common 
school districts in the several counties in this state that may be in 
possession of the funds named in the first section of this act. 

JOSEPH S. HAWKINS, ' 
Speaker of the Bouse of Representatives. 
CHARLES B. GODDARD, 

Speaker of the Senate. 



County com- 
missioners 
may appropri- 
ate $10U. 



CHAPTEH XIV. 

An act to amend an act entitled " an act to encourage teachers' institutes," 
passed February 8, 1847. 

[Passed February 16, 1849, XLVIIml. Slat. 19.] 

Section 1 . Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That the county commissioners of the several counties men- 
tioned in the act to which this is an amendment, shall be and they 
are hereby authorized, at their June session, in each year, when- 
ever, for any cause, the sum of one hundred dollars shall not arise 
from the means and source as provided in the first section of the 



45 

aforesaid act, to appropriate sucli sum as shall be sufficient to make 
up said sum of one hundred dollars, from any moneys in the county 
treasury not otherwise appropriated. 

Sec. 2. That in case there are no moneys at the disposal of the May levy a 
said county commissioners, they are hereby authorized to levy a tax tax. 
(in the usual manner) for the purposes named in the preceding section. 

Sec. 3. That no part of the money appropriated by virtue of Money, how 
this act, or of the act to which this is an amendment, shall be or- *^d for what 
dered by the county auditor to be paid over, except upon the peti- ^PP'^^P'^i^^ ^ 
tion of at least forty practical teachers, who shall therein declare 
their bona fide intention to attend such association within their respec- 
tive counties, and who shall also, at the time of so petitioning as 
aforesaid, be permanent residents of the county in which applica- 
tion shall be made ; and which payment and appropriation shall also 
be approved and recommended in writing, indorsed upon said peti- 
tion by the board of school examiners of such county. 

Sec. 4. That said sum of one hundred dollars, or any part Not to be paid 
thereof, shall not be ordered by the county auditor to be paid over ^^^"^ ""^^^^ . 
as aforesaid, until said teachers shall have first raised and paid over, ff*u-.tf^ ^^^^^ 
or secured to be paid over, to said board or school exammers, for amount asked 
the purposes and benefit of such association, at least one-half of the lor. 
sum for which they shall so petition said county auditor, and which 
payment, or security for payment, as aforesaid, shall be made known 
to said auditor by the receipt, or certificate ii writing of said board 
of school examiners. 

JOHN G. BRESLIN", 
Speaker of the Rouse of Representatives, 
BREWSTER RANDALL, 
Speaker of the Senate. 

An act supplementary to an act to encourage teachers' institutes, passed Feb- 
ruary 8, 1847, and the several amendments thereto, passed April 5, 1851. 

Section 1 . Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That where an association of teachers of common schools, 
called a teachers* institute, has been or may be formed by teachers 
of two or more contiguous counties, the county commissioners of 
each of said counties, are hereby authorized to appropriate for the 
use of said association, a sum not exceeding one hundred doilars in 
any one year, from any moneys in the county treasury not otherwise 
appropriated. 

Sec. 2. The moneys so appropriated shall, upon the order of 
the county auditor, be paid over to the committee of said institute : 
Provided, that no part of the money shall be ordered by the county 
auditor to be paid over, except upon the petition of at least twenty 
practical teachers, residents of the county in which appropriations 
shall be made, who shall therein declare their intention to attend the 
meeting of .said association. 

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the officers of every such teach- 
ers' institute to report at the close to the school examiners of the 
proper county, the name of such teacher in attendance, the time of 
attendance, and the amount paid for the use of the institute to the 
state commissioner of common schools, within thirty days after every 
meeting of the institute, an account of the moneys received and ex- 
pended by them, and always to report such other matter relating lo 
the institute as the commissioner may require. 



46 



CHAPTER XV. 

SALE OF SECTION SIXTEEN. 



Section sixteen 
school lands 
may bo sold. 



How vote of 
the citizens 
shall be taken. 



Same subject. 



Trustees to pe- 
tition court of 
common pleas. 



CouFt to ap- 
point apprais- 
ers. 



An act to regulate the sale of School Lands and the surrender of permanent 

leases thereto. 

[Passed April 16, 1852. L vol. Stat. 168.] 

Section I . Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, That all those lands granted by the congress of the United 
States for school purposes, known as section sixteen, together with 
all such as have been granted in lieu of said section sixteen, may be 
sold, and such sale shall be regulated by, and conducted according 
to, the provisions of this act. 

Sec. 2.* In cases where there has been no vote taken for the 
sale of any such land, the trustees of any original surveyed town- 
ship to which such lands may belong shall, at least thirty days prior 
to the taking of any such vote, cause not less than eight notices to 
be posted up in as many of the most public places of such township, 
notifying the legal voters resident therein to meet at some convenient 
place and time therein specified, and then and there cast their bal- 
lots for or against the sale of any such lands belonging to such 
township ; and if such vote result in a refusal to sell said lands, the 
trustees may, in the same manner, authorize the taking of a subse- 
quent vote or votes as often as they may deem proper : Provided, 
that no such subsequent vote shall be taken until one year shall 
have elapsed since the last preceding vote. 

Sec. 3. The trustees of the township shall preside at the taking 
of such ballots, and shall appoint two clerks, who shall keep two poll 
books, containing the names of the voters and the result of the 
ballot, which poll books shall b^ signed by the trustees and clerks ; 
and in case such ballot shall result in favor of a sale, the trustees 
shall, within ten days after such election, deposit one of said poll 
books with the auditor of the county within which such lands (or 
the gj eater portion thereof) may be situated, with a copy of the 
notice given, and the affidavit of one or more of the trustees, stating 
the manner of giving said notices, and the time and place of putting 
up the same ; which notices, affidavit and poll book shall be by said 
auditor copied into a book for that purpose to be provided, and, when 
so recorded, such record shall be proof of the facts therein stated. 

Sec. 4. When such record has been made, the trustees of such 
township to which said lands belong shall file a petition in the court 
of common pleas of the county within which said lands (or the 
greater portion of them) may be situate, setting forth the giving of 
said notice, the taking of said ballot, the result of the same, the 
filing and recording of the aforesaid papers in the office of the au- 
ditor of the proper county, and asking the court to appoint three 
disinterested freeholders, not resident of the township in which the 
land may be situated, to divide and value the same in money. 

Seo. 5. If such court shall be satisfied that the statements made 
in the petition are true, the court shall appoint three persons to 

* Ab amended March 21, 1861. 



47 



divide and appraise the same, according to the prayer of such peti- 
tion ; and said appraisers, after being first duly sworn before some 
officer authorized to administer oaths, and taking to their aid, if they 
think necessary, the county surveyor, shall proceed to divide said 
lands into such parcels or tracts as, in their opinion, will be best for 
the sale thereof, and return in writing such divisions, suitably num- 
bered and described, to the said court, with a just valuation of each 
separate division, in money. 

Sec. 6. The couit, on such return being made, and having been Returns, etc, 
by said court examined, and found in all things regular, just and to be recorded. 
fair, shall certify the same, and order the same to be entered of 
record, together with the petition, and all the proceedings therein 
had ; a copy of which the trustees shall cause to be filed in the office 
of the auditor of the proper county, who shall copy the same into 
a book containing the notice, affidavit, and poll book aforesaid, and 
immediately following the same 

Seo 7. The auditor of the county, on the recording of said pro- County audi- 
ceedings, shall forthwith cause a notice to be published in some ^^^ to adver- 
newspaper of general circulation in said county, for six consecutive ^^ ^' 
weeks before the day of sale ; and, at the same time, by posting up 
copies of such notice in six of the most public places in said county, 
two of which shall be in the township where the lands are situate, 
and one at the court-house, containing a description of the lots or 
lands to be sold, the valuation thereof, and the time when said land 
shall be ofiered at public auction, by said auditor, at the door of the 
courthouse, at not less than the appraised value thereof; one-twelfth 
of the purchase-money to be paid at the time of sale, and the balance 
in eleven annual installments, of equal amount, with annual interest 
thereon ; and said auditor shall, at such time and place, proceed to 
ofi'er the same to the highest bidder, at or over the appraisement, 
and on the terms stated in said notice. 

Sko. 8. In case said lands, or any part thereof, shall not be sold Same. 
as aforesaid, the auditor may continue to ofi"er the same on the ap- 
plication, in writing, of the trustees of the township to which said 
lands may belong, at any future time or times, until they shall be 
sold, having first given the like notices herein provided to be given 
on the first sale thereof: Provided, that no sale shall be had on any 
valuation made more than two years prior to the day of the sale. 

Sec. 9. The court of common pkas aforesaid is hereby required, 
on the petition of the trustees aforesaid, setting forth the former 
appraisement and the subsequent proceedings thereto, and that two 
years have elapsed, and the land remaining unsold, to direct a new 
valuation of the same to be made in the manner hereinbefore directed, 
unless said court, on testimony, shall be satisfied that the former ap- 
praisement is a just and fair valuation of said lands ; in that case, 
the court shall make an entry of the fact, which entry shall be cer- 
tified to, and recorded by the auditor, in manner aforesaid, and shall 
have the same effiict as a new appraisement. 

Sec. 10. In case said lands are held under permanent leases, or 
leases for ninety-nine years, the legal or equitable holder of any such 
lease, wishing to surrender the same, and to purchase the fee of the 
premises so held by lease, may, with the consent of the trustees of 
the original township to which such lands belong, file his petition in 
the court of common pleas of the county in which the largest portion 



Re-appraisfr- 

ment. 



In cases of 
permanent 
leases, etc. 



48 



of such lands are situate, setting forth a description of the premises 
so held, the state of his lease, or his title thereto, that he is desirous 
of surrendering such lease and becoming the owner of the premises 
in fee, and asking the court to appoint three disinterested freeholders 
of the county, and not resident of the township wherein such lands 
are situate, to value the same ; and the coutt, on being satisfied of 
the truth of the facts set forth in such petition, shall appoint such 
appraie-eis, who shall proceed, under oath, to make a just valuation 
of the premises in money, without reference to the improvements 
made thereon, under and by reason of said lease, and shall return 
such valuation, in writing, to said court; and the said court, if it 
shall be satisfied that said valuation is just, shall confirm the same, 
and order it, with the petition and other proceedings therein, to be 
recorded : Provided, that before the trustees of any original surveyed 
township shall consent to the surrender of any lease, as provided in 
this act, they shall cause the proposition to be submitted to the 
electors of said township, at an election to be held and conducted in 
conformity to the provisions of the second section of this act ; and 
if, at such election, a majority of the electors shall vote to such sur- 
render, then, and not otherwise, said trustees shall consent to the 
surrender, in manner and form as hereia provided. 

Same subject. Sec. 11. Any such lessee, on producing to the auditor of the 
proper county, within one year after the making of the same, a 
certified copy of such petition and appraisement, and confirmation, 
shall be permitted, by endorsement thereon, attested by the auditor, 
to release to the state of Ohio all his interest, title, and claim, in 
and to such lease, for the benefit of the township to which the same 
may belong; which certified copy of said record and said release, 
shall be recorded in a book for that purpose to be provided. 

Sec 12. The purchaser of any such lands, at any auditor's 
sale, or the lessee of any such land held under such lease, on exe- 
cuting his release, as aforesaid, shall each, forthwith, pay to the 
treasurer of the county one-twelfth of the purchase money in the 
first case, and one-twelflh of the valuation in the second, and take 
tiie treasurer's receipt therefor ; and the auditor, on receiving the 
treasurer's receipt for said first installment, shall give to said pur- 
chaser or lessee a certificate, containing the name of the purchaser 
or lessee, a description of the premises, the number, amount, and 
time of payment of the subsequent installments, and that said pur- 
chaser or lessee, their heirs or assigns, on the punctual payment of 
the sums still due, with annual interest up to the time ot payment, 
shall be entitled to receive a final certificate from such auditor : 
provided, that such lessee shah produce to the auditor the certifi- 
cate of the proper ofl&cer, that all rents due on such premises have 
been paid up to the time of surrendering said lease. 

Sarre subject, Sec. 13. Any person wishing to pay any money under the pro- 
visions of this act, in part or full payment of any such lands, shall 
first obtain the certificate of the auditor, of the amount due, or to 
be paid ; and on the presentation of the same, the treasurer is 
authorized to receive the amount therein specified, and shall give 
to the person paying the same a certificate, directed to the auditor, 
of the payment of said sum of money ; and the auditor, on the 
presentation of said certificate, shall give to such person a receipt 
therefor, credit him with the amount in his books, and charge the 
treasurer therewith. 



Payment-s to 
county treas- 
urers, etc. 



49 



Sec. 14.* The county auditor shall keep an account with the County audi- 
county treasurer ol all sales made and leases surrendered, and ^L^^^tl^audi- 
moneys paid thereon by each purchaser or lessee, and shall make a tor of state. 
report of the same to the auditor of state on the first day of Feb- 
ruary, May, August and November, in each and every year, which 
report shall distinguish between the amount paid in as principal, 
and the amount paid in as interest, and from the time of such re- 
port the state shall be liable to pay interest on all such sums of 
principal so reported as paid, and the treasurer of state, on receiv- 
ing a certified copy of the account from the auditor of state, shall 
be authorized immediately to draw said money paid in as principal, 
from the county treasurer; and the amount so reported as interest Interest ap- 
shall be retained in the county treasury and apportioned to the portioned, 
several civil townships and parts of civil townships in the original 
purveyed township, or fractional township to which said land be- 
lonajs. 

Sec. 15 If any such purchaser or lessee shall fail to make any incase of fail - 
payment on any tract of land, for the space of twelve months after ureof pur- 
the time the same shall become due and payable, the auditor of the eraser to pay, 
proper county shall forthwith proceed to sell such tract or tracts of -old^for cash" 
land, with all the improvements thereon, at the door of the court- 
house, to the highest and best bidder therefor, in cash, having first 
given notice of the time and place of such sale, containing a de- 
scription of the lands, and the money due and to become due 
thereon, by publishing the same in some newspaper of general circu- 
lation in said county, for six consecutive weeks before the day of 
sale ; and on such sale, no bid shall be entertained for a sum which 
will not ba sufficient to pay all the purchase money due the state, 
and all expenses incident to such sale ; and in case the said prem- 
ises can not be sold for that amount, thpy shall revert to the state, 
in trust for said township, and be sold in the manner hereinbefore 
provided for the sale of such lands not under permanent leases, or 
leases fjr nintey-nine years. 

Sec. 16 When said lands sells as aforesaid, the purchaser 
shall pay to the treasurer of the county the amount so bid for said 
premises ; and on producing to the auditor the treasurer's receipt 
for such payment, the auditor shall give him a final certificate, 
stating the fact of such sale, the name of the purchaser, the de- 
scription of the lands sold, the amount for which sold, the payment 
of the same, and that the purchaser is entitled to receive, from the 
stale of Ohio, a deed in fee simple for the same, on producing to 
the proper officer this certificate. 

Sec. 17. When any purchaser or lessee, their heirs or assignees. Final eertifi 
shall have made payment in fall, the auditor shall give to such per- ^'^^' 
son a final certificate, containing, in addition to the former one, the 
fact of the payment in full, and that said person is entitled to re- 
ceive, from the state of Ohio, a deed in fee simple for said premises, 
on the presentation of this certificite to the proper officer or offi- 
cers. 

Sec. 13. The auditor of state, upon the filing of any such final 
certilicate in his office, shall make out the draft for a deed therefor, 
and deliver the same, with such final certificate, to the goveror of 



Purchaser t-)^ 
reaeiv^e certifi- 
cate. 



Deed fix>m th< 
state. 



* Ab amended April 12, 1858. 



60 

the state, who shall sign said deed, and cause the same to be sealed 
with the great seal of the state, and by him delivered to the grantee, 
on demand. 
Excess of mo- Sec. 19. All excess of moneys made on any sale of delinquent 
ney, how dis- lands as aforesaid, after paying all sums due, interest and costs, 
posed oK gj^^ij i^g paid, on demand, to such delinquent owner, his heirs or 

assigns, from the county treasury, on the order of the auditor, if 
such demand be made Tvithin one year from the time of such sale ; 
and if not so demanded, it shall be paid into the state treasury ; and, 
unless the same shall be demanded within one year after tbe same 
shall have been paid inio the state treasury, it shall be applied for 
the same uses as the lands are subject to. 
Fees. Sec. 20. The fees for services under this act shall be as follows : 

The court shall tax such fees on any petition filed in the same, as 
are allowed for similar services on proceedings ia chancery. The 
county auditor to be allowed one dollar and fitty cents on each sale 
made by him ; for each certificate, fifty cents ; for each receipt, six 
cents, to be paid by the purchaser, and the same fees for recording 
as is allowed to county recorders, to be paid out of the first moneys 
paid in as interest or rents, on such sale or surrender. All printers* 
fees for advertising, shall be paid out cf the county treasury, on the 
order of the auditor, and refunded out of the first moneys received 
on such sale, as interest or rents. The cost in court shall, in case 
of a petition by the trustees, be paid out of the county treasury, on 
the order of the county auditor, and refunded out of the first moneys 
received from the sale, as interest or rents ; in case of a lessee being 
petitioner, all costs shall be paid by him. 
Acts repealed. Sec. 21. The act entitled "an act to provide for the sale of 
section sixteen, granted by congress for the use of schools," passed 
January 29, 1827; the act entitled "an act to extend the time of 
payment to purchasers of school lands in this state," passed Janu- 
ary 3, 1843 ; the act entitled •* an act to regulate the sale of minis- 
tedal and school lands, and the surrender of permanent leases 
thereto," passed February 2, 1843; the act entitled "an act to 
amend an act entitled an act to extend the time of payment to pur- 
chasers of school lands in this state," passed March 6, 1844 ; the 
act entitled " an act to amend the act to regulate the sale of minis- 
terial and school lands, and the surrender of permanent leases 
thereto, passed February 2, 1843, passed March 12, 1844; the act 
entitled " an act to fix the minimum price of the sales of school 
lands," passed March 4, 1845; and the act eniided "an act to 
amend an act entitled an act to extend the time of payment to pur- 
chasers of school lands in this state, and an act amendatory thereto," 
passed February 1, 1847, be, and the same are hereby repealed : 
provided, such repeal shall not impair, or in any manner afl['ect any 
rights or interests acquired under aiy of said acts.* 

JAMES C. JOHNSON, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
WILLIAM MEDILL, 
President of the JSenate. 

* An act to provide for the appointment of Register of tbe Virginia Military 
School land-5, was passed February 22, 1852, 50 v. Stat. It 8, As to the sale of 
Western Eeserve School lands, see 46 v. Stat. 38 ; 47 v. Local Laws, 232 ; 48 v. 
Stit, 53. 



51 



CHAPTER XVI. 

An act to oonfirm sales made by the trustees of the civil townships of section 
sixteen, and other lands granted by cocgress in lieu thereof, to purchi^sers. 

[Passed April 5, 1856, LIII vol Stat. 63.] 

Whereas, in many counties of the state of Ohio, through misap- Prfftmble. 
prehension of an act entitled ** an act to regulate the sale of minis- 
terial and school lands, and the surrender of permanent leases 
thereto," passed February 2, 1843 ; also of an act entitled *' an act 
to regulate the sale of school lands and the surrender of permanent 
leases thereto," passed April 16, 1852, the trustees of the civil 
townships have sold section sixteen to various purchasers, who have 
purchased said lands in good faith, have paid the purchase money 
and taken possession of said lands, and in many instances made 
large improvements on the same ; therefore, in order to cure the 
defects in the titles of such purchasers to such lands, and to quiet 
them in the possession thereof. 

Section 1. Be it enacted hy the General Assemhly of the State of rp^^g ^q^. 
Ohio, Ihat such sales of section sixteen in the original surveyed firmed, 
townships or fractional townships, and all sales of land granted by 
the cont;ress of the United States in lieu of said section sixteen, 
which have been made otherwise in conformity with the provisions 
of the acts recited in the foregoing preamble, be, and the same are 
hereby confirmed ; and such purchasers and their assignees and 
beirs at law shall hold the purchases so by them made, by a title as 
good and valid as though the proceedings for such sale had been 
instituted by the trustees of the original surveyed or fractional town- 
ships. 

N. H. VAN YORHES, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 

THOMAS H. FORD, 
President of the Senate. 

An act to regulate the sale of ministerial and school lands, and the surrender of 
permanent leases thereto, passed March 9, 1861. 

Section 1 . Be it enacted hy the General Assemhly of the State of 
Ohioy That all those lands, granted by the congress of the United 
States for religious purposes, known as section twenty-nine, may be 
sold or the permanent leases thereto surrendered, and that said 
sale or surrender shall be regulated by, and conducted according to 
the provisions of an act to regulate the sale of school lands, and the 
surrender of permanent leases thereto, passed April 16, 1862 

Sec. 2. That section sixteen, donated and set apart for the sup- 
port of schools, and section twenty- nine for the purpose oC religion, 
or lands granted in lieu of either, by the directors of the Ohio Com- 
pany, on the 7th day of January, A. D. 1796, in the following 
original surveyed townships within the Ohio Company's purchase, 
to wit : township number eight, in range number twelve ; township 
number seven, in range number thirteen ; township number eleven, 
in range number fourteen ; township number thirteen, in range 
number fifteen ; and townships number eight, nine, ten, eleven, 



52 

twelve and IhirteeD, in range number sixteen, noay be sold, or tbe 
leases thereto, whether permanent or otherwise, surrendered, and 
that said sale or surrender shall be regulated by, and conducted 
according to, the provisions of the act referred to in ihe firtt section 
of this act, and the lessees of any of said lands holding leases for 
any term less than ninety-nine years, shall be permitted to surren- 
der their said leases in the same manner, and be entitled to all the 
benefits of the said act as if their leases were for ninety-nine 3 ears. 
Sec, 3. This act to be in force from and after its passage. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Fund estab- 
lished, etc. 



Auditor of 
state the sa- 
perintendent. 

And how to 
keep account 
of funds froHi 
sale of school 
lands. 



Irreducible. 



Rate of inter- 
est ana ac- 
count thereof. 



Pledge for its 
payment. 



SCHOOL FUNDS. 

An act to establish a fund for the support of common schools. 
[Paseed March 2, 1831. Took effext June 1, 1831 . XXIX vol. Stat 423.] 

Section 1. JBe it enacted hy the General Assembly of the 8tate oj 
Ohio, That there is hereby constituted and establ shed a fund, to be 
designated by the name of **the common school fund,'* the income 
of which shall be appropriated to the support of common schools in 
the state of Ohio, in such manner as shall be pointed out by law ; 
of which fund the auditor of state shall be the superintendent, until 
otherwise directed by law. 

Sec. 2. That whenever, and so often, as any moneys shall be 
paid into the state treasury, arising from the sale of any lands which 
heretofore have been, or hereafter may be, appropriated by congress, 
for the use or support of schools in any original surveyed township, 
or other district of country, in this state, the auditor of state shall 
forthwith open an account, in a book or books to be provided for 
that purpose, and shall pass the said monejs to the credit of such 
township, or other district of country ; which said money shall con- 
stitute an irreducible fund, the proceeds accruing from which shall 
be paid over and appropriated, in the manner which shall be pointed 
out by law, for the support of common schools within the township, 
or other district of country, to and for no other use or purpose what- 
ever. 

Seo. 3. That all moneys paid into the state treasury as afore- 
said, shall bear an annual interest of six per centum ; which inter- 
est shall be cast from the time of the payment of any principal sum, 
up to the first day of January, next succeeding such payment, and 
on the first day of January, aunually, thereafter ; and where th« 
same has not been done, the auditor of state shall, in a book or books 
to be provided for that purpose, open an interest account with every 
township, or other district of country, to which a credit in the irre- 
ducible fund aforesaid shall have been passed ; and he shall, in 
such book or books, keep accurate accounts of the accrual and dis- 
bursement of all interest accruing from such fund, so as aforesaid 
belonging to any township or district of country ; and the faith of 
the state of Ohio is hereby pledged for the annual payment of the 
interest aforesaid, to the person who, and in the manner which, 
shall be pointed out by law ; which said interest shall be appropria- 



53 



ted and expended for the support and mMntenance of common Its appropria- 
schools within the township, or oiher district of country, entitled as *^^°'^* 
aforesaid to the same. 

Sec. 4. That for the payment of any interest that shall have Order therefor 
accrued, and be payable to and for any township, or other district and payment, 
of country as afoiesaid, the county auditor of the proper county 
shal', annually, on or after the first day of January, draw an order 
on the treasurer of state, in favor of the treasurer of the proper 
county, for the interest which shall be payable in such county ; and 
upon such order being presented to the auditor of state, he shall 
thereupon certify an abstract of the amount of interest payable to 
each township, or other district of country, in such county ; and 
thereupon, on pr sentation of said order, the treasurer of state shall Receipt, etc. 
pay the am >unt of interest appearing by said abstract to be due; 
and the said county treasurer, or the person presenting said order 
for him, shall indorse on said order a receipt for so much as shall 
be paid thereon, and shall also sign a duplicate receipt, which shall 
be lodged with the auditor of state, who shall credit the state treas- 
urer therc-wiih, and charge the several items constituting the aggre- 
gate of such abstract, to the proper township or other district of 
country ; and the money so drawn, shall be paid out by the county Distribution, 
treasurer, on the order of the county auditor, in the proportions 
established by law, to the proper person or persons in each school 
district authorzed to receive ^he same. And in all cases in which 
a coun'y line shall divide any original surveyed township, or frac- 
tional part thereof, the interest, payable in such township, shall be 
receivtd and disbursed in manner aforesaid, by the treasurer of the 
county wherein the greatest quantity of land belonging to such 
township shall be situate ; but if it be uncertain in which county the 
greatest quantity of land in such township be situate, then the said 
interest shall be received and disbursed by the trea urer o( the old- 
est county in which any part of such township shall be situate. 

Sec. 6. That whenever any donation or devise shall be made. Donations and 
by gift, grant, last will and testament, or in any other manner what- bequests to 
ever, o( any estate, either real, personal, or mixed, to the state of vest lo corn- 
Ohio, or to any person, or otherwise, in trust for the said common fun^jg etc. 
school fund, by any individual, body politic or corporate, the same 
shall be vested in said common school fund ; and whenever the 
moneys arising from such gift, grant, or devise, shall be paid into 
the statd treasury, the proper accounts thereof shall be kept, and 
the interest accruing therefrom shall be appropriated according to 
the intent and design of such donor, grantor, or devisor. 

Sec. 6. That there shall be constituted a fund for the support of General fund 
common schools, which shall belong, in common, to the people of estabUshed, 
this state ; which shall consist of the net amount of the money which Of what to 
heretofore has been, or hereafter may be, paid into the state treas- consist. 
ury, from the sales of the lands commonly called the salt lands, and 
such donations, legacies and devises, as may be made to such fund, 
or to any person or persons, in trust for the same. And the state State pledged 
of Ohio is hereby pledged to pay the interest, annually, on any and for the inter- 
all sums of money which shall have been, or may herealter be, paid ®®^* 
into such treasury, from the passage of this act, or the receipt of 
such money into Uie treasury aforesaid ; and the interest arising as interest fund- 
aforesaid, shall be funded annually, until the first day of January, ed until 1835. 
in the year eighteen hundred and thirty- five ; alter which time the 



54 

said interest shall be annually distributed to tbe several counties in 
this state, in proportion to tlie number of white male inhabitants 
above the age of twenty-one years, as by law shall be ascertained, 
for the apportionment of representatives ; and the proportion of in- 
How distribu- terest, due to each and every such county, shall be distributed for 
ted afterward the support of common schools, in the respective counties, in the 
manner prescribed in the act to provide for the support and better 
regulation of common schools. 

[The balance of the chapter is probably superseded by the act 
organizing the sinking fund. The provisions are retained in Swan's 
Revised Statutes. 

It is also questionable whether the state common school fund, 
organized in section 6, is in existence. If so, the act of March 6, 
1844, adds to it '* all moneys arising from licenses to peddler?, all 
moneys arising from auction duties, or licenses to auctioneers, except 
in the county of Hamilton ; and all fines and penalties collected 
under the laws relating to each of said funds ;" but the same act 
limits the fucd, however derived, to $200,000. 

The doubt grows out of the language of seciion 63 of the general 
school f ct (chapter i, ante), namely : " The state common school 
fund shall hereojter consist of such sum as will be produced by the 
annual levy and assessment of one mill and one-half mill on the 
grand list of taxable property," etc. The late revisers. Swan and 
Cur wen, regard those piovisions as yet in force, and the repeal is 
exclusively by implication. The following act stands on the same 
footing:*] 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

An act to increase the general fund for the support of corcmon schools, estab- 
lished by the sixih section of the act to establish a fund for the support of 
common schools, passed March 2, 1851, by the appropriation of the proceeds 
of the swamp lands to that fund. 

[ Passed March 24, 1 849, XL IX vol. Stat. 40. ] 

Proceeds of Section 1. Be it enacted ly the General Assembly of the State of 

sales of swamp Ohio, That the net proceeds which may hereafter be paid into the 
lands to be state treasury, from the sales of swamp lands granted to the state 
added to the ^f qj^jq^ ^y ^ct of congress, passed September 28th, 1850, be and 
schcwi^fund ^^® same is hereby appropriated to the general fund for the support 
of common schools ; and the state of Ohio is hereby pledged to pay 
the interest, annually, on any and all sums of money which may be 
paid into the state treasury, from the sales of said lands, from the 
receipt of such money into the treasury aforesaid ; and the interest 
arising as aforesaid, shall be funded annually, until the first day of 
January, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-five ; after which 
time the said interest shall be annually distributed to the several 
counties in this state, in proportion to the number of white male in- 
habitants above the age of twenty-one, as by law shall be ascer- 
tained, for the apportionment of representatives ; and the proportion 
of interest due to each and every such county, shall be distributed 
for the support of common schools in the respective counties, in the 

*See Swan's Revised Statutes^ 853-4. 



55 

manner prescribed in the *' act ta provide for the support and better regulation 
of common schools." 

JOHN F. MORSE, 
Speaker of the Honse of Representatives. 
CHARLES C CONVERS, 

Speaker of the Senate, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE IRREDUCIBLE 0R SPECIAL SCHOOL FUNDS. 

These now constitute a capital of $2,044 066,* the proceeds of specific appro- 
priations of lands by congress for school purposes, upon which the state treasury 
pays an annual interest of six per cent. This income is not distributed bv a uni- 
form rule, however. Those territorial divisions of the state, known as the Virginia 
Military District, United States Military District, and Connecticut Western Reserve, 
are each eotitled to receive the income of the school fund so designated, in propor- 
tion to the whole number of youth therein, while in the remainder of the state, the 
rent of section sixteen, or the interest arising from the proceeds of its sale, is paid 
exclusively to the inhabitants of the original surveyed townships. The whole 
number of youth of sch'ol age in the Virginia Military District, for instance, con- 
stitutes the divisor of the entire income, thus affording an obvious method of dis- 
tribution to the counties ; while a similar calculation must attend the apportionment 
to the respective townships of the proceeds of section sixteen. Besides the incon- 
venience from this state of things, there is produced a great inequality of benefit. 
One township may receive a large sum — their section of land having been fortu- 
nately located or judiciously sold — while an adjacent township receives a mere 
pittance. Still, it is doubtful whether there is any remedy for this inequality. In 
Indiana, an attempt was recently made to consolidate these township funds, dis- 
tributing their income equally throughout the state ; but the supreme court of the 
state decided that such a measure was a violation of the trust created by the tenure 
of these lands from congress, or (to reverse the injunction of the Ohio constitution) 
that *' the income arising therefrom" was not '* faithfully applied to the specific 
objects of the original grants or appropriations.'* 

The ground upon which the diversity in the application of these funds rests, 
will more fully appear by a brief synopsis of the original grants or appropriations ; 
for, at the first glance, it; excites surprise th-it such an inconguity should be suffered 
to continue in the condidon of our school funds. 

The ordinance of the continental congress which first provided for the disposition 
of lands northwest of the river Ohio, was passed May 20ch, 1785, and resulted in 
the survey of the seven ranges, which are bounded on the north by a line drawn 
due west from the Pennsylvania state line, where it crosses the Ohio river, for the 
distance of forty-two miles ; thence south to the Ohio river at the southeast corner 
of Marietta township, and thence up the river to the place of beginning. This 
tract comprises all of Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont and Monroe counties, most of 
Carroll, and small portions of Columbiana, Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Noble and 
Washington, along their easternboundaries. The ordinance of 1785, among other 
reservations, withheld from sale ** Lot No. 16, of every township, /or the main- 
tenance of public schools within the said township J** 

The contracts first executed with the Ohio Company included the entire territory 
between the west line of the seven ranges, the Ohio and Scioto rivers, and the 
northern boundary of the tenth township from the Ohio river extended westwardly 
to the Scioto. The last mentioned boundary would now be a line passing through 

*1B54. 



66 

the centre of Coshocton county, and including the southern tiers of townships in 
Tuscarawas and Knox counties. The government stipulated, and the company 
agreed, that "the Lot No. 16, in each township, he givtn perpetually for the pur- 
poses contained in the said ordinance of the 20ih of Jday, 1786." The purchase of 
the Ohio Company was finally restricted to a tract bounded on the south by the 
Ohio, east by the seventh range of townships, by the western hne of the fifteenth 
range of townships on the west, and a line on the north so drawn as to make seven 
hundred and fifty thousand acres, exclusive of reservations. The company finally 
became possessed of 964,285 acres, lying along the Ohio river, and now including 
Meigs and Athens, most of Washington and Gdllia, and adjacent fractions of 
Morgan, Hocking, Vinton and Lawrence counties. 

Tne reservation in the Symmes' Purchase was likewise expressed, "of Lot No. 
16, for the purpose mentioned in the land ordinance of ihe 20th of May, 1785." 
Symmes' contract was originally for a million of acres between the Great and 
Little Miami, but the tract finally conveyed in 1794 was bounded on the north by 
a line connecting those streams, a little above Lebanon, in Warren county, and 
contained 311,682 acres. 

In 1802, congress pajised an act authorizing the organ'zation of the State of 
Ohio, and, among other inducements for a provision exempting lands sold by the 
United States from taxation for a period of five years, proposed "that the section No. 
16, in every township, and where such sections had been S' Id, granted, or di.^posed 
of, other lands equivalent thereto, and most contiguous to the same, shall be 
granted to such township for the use of schools.*' 

So far, certainly, the language of grants seems to imply separate township 
funds, but the next stage of the question recognizes a different kind of dedication. 
The Ohio convention accepted the proposition of congress, but wiih an important 
condition, as follows : " Provided, the following addition to, and modification of 
the said propositions, shall be agreed to by the congress of the United States, viz : 
that in addition to the first proposition securing the said section, number sixteen, 
in every township within certain tracts, to the inhabitaiits thereof, for the use of 
schools, a like donation, equal to the one thirty-sixth part of the amount of the 
lands in the United States JVIilitary Tract, shall be made for the support of schools 
within that tract ; and that the like provision shall be made for the support of 
schools in the Virginia Reservation, so far as the unlocattd lands in that tract will 
supply the provision aforesaid, after the warrants issued from said state have been 
satisfied ; and also that a donation of the same kind, or such provision as congress 
shall deem expedient, shall be made to the inhabitants of the Connecticut Reserve ; 
that of all the lands which may hereafter be purchased of the Indian tribes by the 
United States, and lying within the State of Ohio, the one thirty-sixth part shall 
be given, as aforesaid, for the support of public schools; that all lands before 
mentioned to be appropriated by the United States for the support of schools, shall 
be vested in the legislature of said state, in trust, for s^id purpose " 

Congress, by act of March 3, 1803, assented, enacting (section one) that the 
tracts therein described were "appropriated for the use of schools in the st^te, and 
shall, together with all the tracts of land heretofore appropriated for that purpose, 
be vested in the legislature of the state, in trust, for the use aforesaid, and for no 
other use, intent, or purpose whatever." The same section proceeds to grant 
eighteen quarter townships, or one thirty-sixth of the lands in the United States 
Military Lisirict, "for the use of schools within the same;" secondly, fourteen 
quarter townships, also situated in the United States Military District, " for the 
use of schools in that tract commonly called the Connecticut Reserve ;" thirdly, 
BO much of the Virginia Military Reservation, to be selected by ihe Ohio legisla- 
ture from unlocated lands therein, as would amount to one thirty-sixih of the whole 
tract; and fourthly, (which is the l^st clause of the fiist section,) " one thirty-sixth 
part of all the lands of the United States lying in the state of Ohio, to which the 



57 

Indian title is not exlinguished, wLicli may hereafter be purchased of the Indian 
tribes by the United States, which thirty -sixth part shall consist of section sixfeen 
in each township, if the said land shall be surveyed io townships of tix miles 
square, and shall, if the lands be surveyed in a different manner, be dei?ignated 
by lots." The second section declared '* that the several appropiiatiocs for schools 
made by the preceding section" were "in conformity to, and in consideration of, 
the conditions agreed on by the state of Ohio, by the ordinance of the convention 
of the said state, bearing date the 29th day of November, 1802." 

Whatever may be the construction of the ordinance of 1785, of the subsequent 
contracts with the Ohio Company and John Cleves Symmes, and of the seventh 
section of the act of congress of April 30, 1802, there seems to have been no ques- 
tion as to the meaning of the Ohio convention and of congress, in regard to the 
school lands appropriated for the United States Mditary District, the Virginia 
Military District, and the Connecticut Western Reserve. But if the proceeds of 
these grants can be properly treated as a single fund, the income of which may be 
distributed equally to the youth of school age in the respective districts, why may 
not the grant of one thirty-sixth of the lands to which the Indian title was unex- 
tinguished in 1802, be disposed ol in the same manner ? That portion of the state 
which might be denominated the Greenville Treaty District, from the well-known 
boundary which then separated the Indian Territory from the lands ceded in 1795 
to the United States, can readily be identified on any map of the state, and is re- 
cognized by the fourth clause of the first section of the act of congress, passed in 
compliance with the resolution of the Ohio Constitutional Convention, to be as 
distinctly a separate district, for the purpose of a grant of school l^nds, as the 
Virginia Military or other special districts. If the funds arising from the donations 
to the latter can be legally consolidated, and their incomes distributed }^er capita, 
no good reason appears why all the counties between the Utited States Military 
District and the Western Reserve, and northwest of the old Greenville line — in- 
cluding Wa\ne, part of Holmes, Ashland, Richland, part of Morrow, Marion, 
Hardin, Union, Logan, Shelby, Mercer, Crawford, Seneca, Sandusky, Ottawa, 
(except one township in Western Reserve,) Lucas, Wood, Hancock, Auglaize, 
(except part of one township in Virginia Military District,) All n, Putnam, Henry, 
Fulton, Williams, Defiance, Paulding and Van Wert counties — should not be 
placed on an equal fooling as to the enjoyment of a school fund arising from the 
sale or lease of tection sixteen ; although, if the rest of the state, whose donations 
are of an older date, are permitted to receive these proceeds by the rule of town- 
ship distribution, it may be inexpedient to make any change in the existing system. 
These particulars are not offered as the fouodaiion of any recommend ition to that 
effect. The subject is too much environed by diffiaiiliies, and these have been too 
fully considered by the general assembly, to warrant any change, unless upon 
greater consideration than the undersigned has been able to give to the su'^ject. 

By act of March 2, 1807, congress appropriated eighteen qmrter townships and 
three sections, to be selected by lot from lands lying betW' en the United States 
Military Tract and the Western Reserve, for the use of schools in the Virginia 
Military Reservation — thus removing a restriction contained ia the act of 1803, 
which confined their selection to the Virginia Military District. In return the state 
of Ohio released to the United States the thirty-sixth part of the tract first desig- 
nated, accepting the above grant in lieu thereof It may be well t) add that the 
Virginia Military District, (or the tract between the Scioto and Little Miami, re- 
served by Virginia from her cession of the tenitory north west of the Ohio river 
for the sitisfaction of land bounties issued to her troops upon continental establish- 
ment,) may be traced upon a township map of Ohio as follows : It includes the 
whole of Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Madison and 
Union counties ; half of Hardin, or Taylorsville, Hale and Dudlyy townships, and 



58 

a Targe portion of Roundhead ; part of a single township (Goshen) in Auglaizs ; 
one half of Logan, or Rush Creek, Bokengehelas Cnek, Jeflferson, Perry, Zane, 
and Goshen townships, with large fractions of McArthur, Monroe, and Lake, and 
a smaller portion of Stckes ; one quarter of Champaign, or Wayne, Rush and 
Goshen townships, with a large part of Union, and a less fraction of Salem ; the 
north-east and south-east extremities of Clark, being the eastern portions of Pleas- 
ant and Harmony and the southern portions of Madison and Greene townships ; 
three-ft'urths of Greene, or all of the county except Bath and Beaver's Creek 
townships, and those portions of Miami, Xenia and Miami which lie west of the 
Little Miami river; two-fifths of Warren, or Hamilton, Salem, Washington, and 
part of W^ayne townships; a single township (Anderson) at the south-east angle 
of Hamilton ; two fifths of Scioto, viz : Nile, Washington, Union, Brush Creek and 
Morgan townships ; three-fifths of Pike, viz : Camp Creek, Surfish, Mifflin. Perry, 
Pebble, Benton, Peejee, and the west half of Jackson townships; two-thirds of 
Ross, viz : Franklin, Huntington, Paxton, Scioto, Twin, Paint, Buckskin, Concord, 
Union and Deei field townships; two-thirds of Pickaway, viz : Wayne, Deer Creek, 
Perry, Jackson, Monroe, Muhlenberg, Darby and Scioto ; seven of the nineteen 
townships of Franklin, viz : Jackson, Pleasant, Prairie, Franklin, Norwich, Brown, 
and Washington ; a narrow belt along the west line of Delaware, to wit : the town- 
ships of Thompson and Scioto, and a fraction of Concord; and finally, the t«vo 
fouth-western townships of Marion, viz : Green Camp and Bowling Gretn — to the 
place of beginning "in a large wet prairie, or swamp," whence i;ow, in opposite 
directions, the Scioto and Great Miami towards the Gulf of Mexico, and the 
Auglaize rorthwardly to its junction with the Maumee or Miami of Lake Erie. The 
sale of the school lands allotted to the inhabitants of the Virginia Military District 
occurred in pursuance of acts passed by the General Assembly in 1827 and 1828. 
'i he United States Military District, so frequently mentioned in the present 
connection, was appropriated by an act of Congress, in 1796, to satisfy the land 
bounties granted by the Continental Congress to the oflficers and soldiers of the 
revolution. It was bounded as follows: "Beginning at the northwest corner of 
the original seven ranges of townships, and running thence fifty miles due south 
along the western boundaries of the said range ; thence due west with (to?) the 
main branch of the Scioto river ; thence up the main branch of the said river to 
the place where the Indian boundary line crosses the same; thence along the said 
boundary line to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum river, at the crossing 
place above Fort Laurens; thence up said river to a point where a line run due 
west from the place of beginning will intersect the said river; thence along the 
said line to the beginning. '* The language here quoted is from the act of June 
1, 1796, and is geographically inaccurate, for when the old Greenville line (the 
Indian boundary mentioned) reaches the site of Fort Laurens (near the village 
of Calcutta, on the southern border of Stark, and of Bolivar, in Tuscarawas 
counties) there is no need of ascending the Muskingum to reach a point due west 
from the place of beginning. A few miles from the site of Fort Laurens, directly 
east connects with the northeast corner of the seventh range of townships. The 
act further directed this tract to be surveyed into townships of five miles square ; 
and these were afterwards surveyed into quarter townships of two and a half 
miles square, containing 4,000 acres each. Consequently the grant to the United 
States Military District of eighteen of these quarter townships, contained in the 
act of 1803, amounted to 72,000 acres, or about one thirty-fourth of the whole 
extent of the oistrict. The appropriation to the Connecticut Reserve, by the same 
act, of fourteen quarter townships, or 66,000 acres, was, of course, inadequate ; 
while the subsequent allotment of eighteen quarter townships and three sections 
within this tract for the benefit of the Virginia Military District may have amounted, 
together with other locations made between the Scioto and the Little Miami, from 
1803 to 1807, to the proportion of one thirty sixth of the lands in the latter tract. 



69 

The school lacds originally granted to tte Fnited States Military District 
remained under lease until 1827-8, Tvhen the inhabitants were authorized to vote 
their consent to sell them, which was done, and their proceeds now constitute a 
portion of the irreducible fund. The district entitled to a uniform division of 
their yearly income may thus be designated on the map of Ohio : The whole of 
Coshocton county, and the following fractions, greater or less, of the adjacent 
counties : of Tuscarawas, all except most of Warren and Union, and smaller 
portions of Will and Rush townships; of Guernsey, all except Londonderry and 
Oxford on the eastern, and Spencer on the southern border ; of Noble, only sec- 
tions 19, 20, 21 and 22, in township one, range one west of the seven ranges ; 
of Muskingum, whatever lies north of the latitude of Zanesville, viz.. Union, Perry, 
Washington, Falls, Hopewell, Highland, Silem, Muskicgum, Licking, Monroe, 
Adams, Madison, Jefferson and Jackson ; of Holmes, all but Washington and 
Ripley, and portions of Prairie, Salt Creek, Pnint, Knox and Monroe; of Licking, 
all but Etna and Bowling Green, and parts of Union and Licking, which constitute 
its southern border ; of Knox, all but a narrow wedge extending from west to 
east along the northern line of Middleberry and Berl n ; about half of Morrow, 
viz., Chester, Bloomfield, Harmony, Bennington, Penn, Lincoln, Weslfield and 
part of Franklin townships; most of Delaware, all except the narrow belt west of 
the Scioto ; and of Franklin, the northeastern townships of Jefferson, Mifflin, 
Clinton, Plain, Blendon, Sharon and Perry. 

The donation of 56,000 acres for the use of schools on the Western Reserve 
was probably one thirty-sixth of the land east of the Cuyahoga river; but when, 
in 1805, the Indian title was extinguished, by the treaty of "Fort Industry, on the 
Miami of the Lake,'* east of the meridian line drawn from Lake Erie along the 
western limit of the Connecticut Reserve, and thence south to the Greenville line, 
it became the duty of Congress to furnish a dee proportion of School Land for the 
remainder of the Reserve, which was estimated, by a memorial of the Ohio Legis- 
lature, dated January 21, 1827, to be 43,000 acres. It was not, however, until 
June 19, 1834, that an act of Congress was passed, directing the President of the 
United States to reserve from sale public lands in Ohio sufficient, in addition to 
the grant of 18C3, to constitute one thirty-sixth of the area of the Western Reserve 
for the use of schools. Under this act it was ascertained that the State of Ohio 
became entitled to 37,758 acres, most of which was located in the counties of 
Defiance, Henry, Williams, Paulding, Van Wert and Putnam ; in 1848 the people 
of the Western Reserve, by a vote authorized by the General Assembly, decided 
in favor of their sale; in 1850 provision was made for their appraisement and 
sale, and the lands in question are now generally disposed of. An income of six 
per cent, upon their net proceeds is paid to the counties ot Ashtabula, Tiumbull, 
Lake, Geauga, Portage, Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain, Huron and Erie ; to ten 
townships of Mahoning, viz., BerLn, Ellsworth, Canfield, Boardman, Poland, Mil- 
ton, Jackson, Austintown, Youngstown and Coitsville ; to all of Summit, except 
Franklin and Greene townships; to three townships of Ashland, viz., Ruggles, 
Troy and Sullivan ; and the eastern extremity of Ottawa, consisting of Danbury 
township, and a portion of the Bass Islands m Lake Erie. 

The Moravian School Fund is usually mentioned in financial and school reports. 
Congress, at an early day, granted three tracts, of four thousand acres each, to 
the society of United Brethren, for propagating the gospel among the heathen, in 
trust for the Christian Indians of the Muskingum. These tracts included the 
missionary stations of Schoenbrum, Gnadenhutten and Salem, in Tuscarawas 
county, and were reconveyed m 1824 to the United States, in consideration of 
certain provisions for the benefit of the society, and the rerr nant of Indians then 
surviving. By an act of Congress, passed the same year, the Secretary of the 
Treasury was allowed to set apart, from the sale of these lands, one lot, not 
exceeding one thirty-sixth part of each tract, the title being vested in the Legisla- 



60 

ture of Ohio, in trust for tte use of schools, in the same manner that other lands 
have been gr nted for that purpose. 

By a communication from the Auditor of State it appears that the total amount 
of payments IdIo ibe State Treasury, on the 15th November, 18d4, consiituiing 
the school tiust fund, or the bulk of the "irreducible debt of Ohiu,'* was as follows: 

Virgir ia Military School Fund $150,150 85 7 

TJ. St-ttea " " " 120,272 12 

WcBteru Reserve " " 242.818 00 3 

Section Sixteen " " 1,5 >7,940 98 1 

Moravian " " 2,8.3 97 

$2,044,055 93 1 
As before stated, the State receives these funds as a perpetual loan, and pays 
an annual mteiest of six per cent, thereon, for distribution in the localities entitled 
to the proceeds. 

A SYNOPSIS OF OTHER SCHOOL REVENUES — FINES, SWAMP LANDS, ETC. 

A brief synopsis of h gislative provisions, with the dates of their passage annexed, 
will indica e those pecuniary peralties which, by the neglect of school officers, are 
frequently diverted from the use of schools, and which, it' an account were rendered 
in the different counties and townships of the State, might afford a considerable 
fund of arrearages. 

The following is a list of the fines which the different acts whose dates are 
given direct to be paid into the county treasuries, for the use of schools: 

1. One dollar for the importation or sale of salt, without leo;al inspection, at 
Cincinnati, Portsmouth, or Cleveland — ^February 3, 184Q. 2. Not exceeding five 
hundred dollars for procuring abortion — February 27, 1834. 3. One himdred 
dollars by county treasurer fur failing to make annual settlement with State trea- 
surer—January 3, 1843. 4. Not exceeding one hundred dollars for wantonly or 
maliciously opening inclo^ures — February 28, 1846. 6. Five dollars for every 
hundred pousfds of fish, except shad, mackerel or herring, sold without inspection 
— March 9, 1831. 6. Five to fifty dollars for failing to bury or burn the offal of 
fish, taken in the waters of this State, to the amount of one or more barrels — 
March 9, 1831. 7. Five hundred dollars for keeping gambling instruments, aid- 
ing in gambling, or becoming a common gambler — January 17, 1846. 8. Not 
exceeding fifty dollars by county inspectors for receiving more than their prescribed 
fees or buj'irtg condemned anicles — Maich 9, 1821. 9. Not exceeding ten dollars 
for obstructing the navigation of the Muskingum river — Vlarch 1, 1834. 10. Not 
exceeding ten thousand dollars by any officer or corporation who is in contempt 
for disregarding orders of court in quo warranto procedure — March 17, 1838. 
11. Fifty cents by manufacturers of salt for each barrel not dramed and packed 
according to law — April 30, 1852 12. One-half of amount received by county 
auditors (the other half applied to agricultural fund by act of February 8, 1847) 
for licenses of **any traveling show" — (further defined as "any natural or arti- 
ficial curiosity, or exhihiion of horsemanship in a circus or otherwise, for any 
price, gain or reward") — at not less than twenty nor more than fifty dollars; 
also, one-half of fines of one hundred dollars for exhibiting without such license — 
auditor to apportion the above proceeds to the respective school districts (now the 
townships and special districts) according to the number of youth therein — Feb- 
ruary 28, 1H3I, amended by act of February 8, 1847. 13 The amount of any 
debt or demand upon which any bank shall have taken illegal interest, less the 
per centage of the prosecuting attorney, provided the debtor has not commenced 
procee:^iMgs within s-ix months from the transaction— March 19, 1830. 

The tines payable to township treasurers for the use of schools are as follows : 

1. Five to tifiy dollars lor unauthorized traffic near camp meetings — March 



61 

26, 1841. 2. Ten dollars for allowing Canada thistles to mature on defendant's 
land, and twenty dollars for knowingly vending any grass or other seed in which 
there is any seed of the Canada thistle — March 6, 1841. 3 Divers penalties 
under the act to restrain imnooral practices, parsed February 17, 1834, viz : One 
to five dollars for Sabbath breaking ; five dollars for selling spirituous liq"ors on 
Sunday ; not exceeding twenty dollars fur disturbing religious meetings ; twenty- 
five cents to one dollar for each ofiPense, ''if any person of the age of fourteen 
years or upward shall profanely curse or damn, or profanely swear by the n-^me 
of God, Jesu^ Christ, or the Holy Ghost ;" fifty cents to five dollars for exciting 
disturbauce at a public meeting ; fifty cents to five dollars for playing bullets, 
running horses, or bhooting at a target in towns or villages ; ten to one hundred 
dollars by any keeper of a public liouse or retailer of spirituous liquors who is 
connected with a nine pin alley ; ten dollars "if any person or persons shall ex- 
hibit any puppet-show, wire dancing or tumbling, jugglery or sleight of hand 
within this state, and shall ask and receive any money or other property for ex- 
hibiting the same ;" ten dollars for defacing any advertisement set up by author- 
ity of law ; not exceeding one hundred dollars for bull or bear baiting and other 
torture of animals ; not exceeding twenty dollars for any agency in " the game 
commonly called cock fighting ; one to five dollars «*if two or more persons shall 
run a match horse race or races in any public road in common use, for the pur- 
pose of trying the speed of their horses ;" and if any justice of the peace fai, to 
pay over the above fines for immcral practices, he shall forfeit double amounts. 
4. Five to fifty dollars for firing cannon or exploding more than five ounces 
avoirdupois of gunpowdtr on public streets or highways, except in certain cases 
— February 10. 1845. 6. One dollar for each muskrat killed between May 1 
and October 15, "provided that nothing in this act contained shall be construed 
to prevent any person from destroying muskrats where the same shall be injurious 
to works of a public or private nature" — *' An act to protect the fur trade," 
passed January 18, 1830. 6. Fifty dollars for unlicensed peddfing — February 
7, 1848. 7. Five to fifty dollars.by manufacturers who compel any women or chil- 
dren under eighteen years of age, or permit any child under fourteen years, to 
labor more than ten hours in any one day — March 19, 1852. 8. Twenty-five cents 
to one dollar by owner of ** habitually breachy or unruly animals," afcer due no- 
tice by township trustees, payable to ** the treasury of the school district in which 
d fendant resides" (now the township treasury)— January 17, 1840. 9. Five 
to twenty-five dollars by any tavern keeper, grocery keeper, or other person, for 
harboring any intoxicated Indian or Indians, " for the use of the school district" 
—March 20, 1840. 

By act of March 14, 1853, personal property escheated to the state is appro- 
priated to common schools. 

In respect to the swamp lands granted by the general government to the west- 
ern states, by the act of September 28, 1850, the all )tment to Ohio was only 
25,720yJ-o acres, while Indiana receives l,286,827yVo- acres. This contrast 
proves the extent to which Ohio lands are susceptible of cultivation, or that the 
designation of "swamp lands" has not been applied with much precision, or 
governed by an uniform rule. 

The legislation by the state of Ohio assumes that these lands are in a condition 
unsuitable for tillage and deleterious to health, and the acts of March 2, 1853, 
and April 25, 1854, offer inducements for promptly reclaiming them. The audi- 
tors of the counties in which they are situated, are required to advertise for pro- 
posals to drain and reclaim such lands, and award the contract of drainage and 
reclamation to the lowest responsible bidder. A previous section provides for 
the appraisement of the lands before they have been drained and reclaimed, and the 
only means set apart by the act to pay for such drainage consists of •* said lands 
lying in said county at the appraised value thereof." The first eight sections of 



62 

the act of 1853 contemplate that, after the lands are reclaimed, they may be 
taken at the appraised value befcre reclamation to the amount of the contractor's 
bid ; and then section 9 { dds *' that if afttr the said swamp or overflowed lands 
of this state, lying within any county, be drained or reclaimed as heiein provided, 
there shall remain any of the said lands undisposed of, it shall be the duty of the 
county commissioners of such county to appraise the same, and make returns of 
such appraisal as aforesaid ; upon the filing of such returns in his office, the said 
county auditor is hereby authorized to sell the said lands at the appraised value 
thereof to any applicant therefor, who will make an oath or affirmation that it is 
his intention to improve the same and make the same a permanent residence, or 
that the same adjoin to and are necessary to the proper improvement of lands 
then owned and improved by such applic>»nt, which said oath or affirmation the 
said county auditor is hereby authorized to administer ; and in all cases of sales, 
as prescribed in this section, the said county auditor shall receipt to the purchaser 
for the amount of money received, and describe therein the lands sold, which 
said receipt, upon presentation and delivery to the governor, shall entitle the pur- 
chaser to a patent for such land ; provided that such of said swamp or over- 
flowed lands as are incapable of being drained or reclaimed, may be sold without 
the oath or affirmation hereinbefore required. 

Two years is the period fixed for the performance of these contracts of drain- 
age, and when companies have been formed for the purpose, the work done by 
them may be estimated in money, and lands conveyed at the appraised value. 
Section 10 finally provides "that all moneys received by said county auditor 
upon aU sales as aforesaid, shall be paid into the county treasury of the county 
in which the lands sold are situated, to reimburse the county for the expenditures 
of draining and reclaiming said swamp or overflowed lands, and the residue, if 
any there be, shall be paid by said county treasurers into the state treasury for the use 
of schools^* Under these circumstances, it would be unreasonable to expect any 
material addition to the resources of schools from a reversionary interest so con- 
tingent. 



FORMS. 



MINUTES OF SUB-DISTRICT ELECTION. 

Sub-District, No. — , 

Township, County, Ohio. 

, 186--. 

At a meeting of the qualified voters of said sub-district, — -, was 

appointed chairman, and secretary. 

Whereupon, said voters proceeded to elect by ballot, one director for said sub- 
district, for the term of three years, and upon inspection of the several ballots 

given at said election, it was found and publicly declared, that 

was duly elected. 



Secretary. Chairman. 



NOTICE OF SUB-DISTRICT MEETING. 

* Notice is hereby given to the qualified voters of sub district number — , 
township, county, Ohio, that the next annual election for director 



in said sub-district, will be held at the school-house in said sub-district, at 

o'clock P. M., of the day of , 186—. 

By order of the Directors, 



Clerk. 



OATH OF DIRECTOR. 

On the — day of , .186 — , personally appeared , and I 

then and there administered to him the following oath {or affirmation) : 

You, , do solemnly swear (or offirm) that you will support the 

constitution of the United States, and ihe constiiution of the stale of Ohio, and 
that you will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of director, in and for 

said sub-district, number , township, county, Ohio, according 

to law, and the best of your abilities. , 

Director in said sub district. 



APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR BY TOWNSHIP CLERK. 

, ,18-. 

Whereas, , one of the directors in sub-district number , 



» This notice ixay be yaiied to serve for a special meeting under . cc. 4, by omilting the con- 
olusion. 



64 

townsliip, county, Ohio, has resigned, [died, or refused to serve, <S:c., as 

the case may be ) 

There'ore, 1 do appoint director in said sub-district, who shall bold 

his office until the time of the next annual meeting. 

— — » 

Township Cleric of said Township, 



SUB-DISTRICT MEETING— APPOINTMENT OF CLERK, &c. 



., 18-. 



The directors of sub-district number , township. county, 

Ohio, this day met, and were legally qualified as directors. 

Whereupon, was appointed clerk of said district. 

On &oiion, it was Resolved, &c. — , Cleric. 



FORM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN DIRECTOR AND TEACHER. 

This memorandum of agreement, made the day of , eighteen hun- 
dred and sixty , between , a school teacher, of the one part, and 

, and , as directors of sub-district number 

^ township, county, Ohio, of the other part : 

WITNESSETH, That said agrees to teach the public school of said 

sub-distiict for the term of , commencing on the day of , 

eighteen hundred and sixty , for the sum of per , and that for 

said services properly rendered, said and , as directors 

as aforesaid, are then and there to certify in favor of said for the 

amount of wsges due him, as ascertained by this article of agreement. 

Witness our hands. 



=il 



Local Directors, 



TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE FOR PAY. 



To the Clerk of Township, County, Ohio : 

This is to certify, that , under a contract duly made and entered 

into, taught a common school in sub-district number , of said township, from 

the day of , 186—, to the day of , 186—, in all 

days, at per month ; and that there is due him for said service, the sum 

of . 

Local Directors, 




65 

ORDER ON TOWNSHIP TREASURER FOR TEACHER'S PAY. 

, , 18-. 

No.—. 

To the Treasurer of Township, County , Ohio : 

Pay dollars for services as teacher in sub-district number 

, of said township, from , 186 — , to , 186 — , in all 

days, at per month. 

, Township Clerk. 

$ . 



DISMISSAL OF TEACHER. 

Whereas, it has been represented to us that , who has been em- 
ployed, and is now engag-^d in teaching a school in sub -district number — , 

township, county, is negligent {or here insert any other sufficient cause), as 

such teacher. And, whereas, we have become satisfied of the truth of said repre- 
sentation : or, 

Whereas, we have been required by the board of examiners of county, 

to dismiss , now engaged as a teacher in sub-district number — , 

township, and county aforesaid, for the following causes ; 

(Here set forth the causes.) 

Therefore, said is hereby dismissed as teacher as aforesaid. Wit- 
ness our hands, , 1 86 — . 

, >• Local Directors. 



VISIT TO SCHOOL. 

This day the undersigned, local directors in sub- district number , 

township, county, Ohio, in company with and , 

who were invited for the purpose, visited the school in said sub district, taught by 
— , and the following was the result of the examination and visit : 

They found, &c. (Here set forth the opinion as to the management of the schools, 
d;c.) 

Local Directors. 



CONTRACTS. 

This memorandum of an agreement made this — day of , eighteen hundred 

and sixty , between , of the one part, and , 

and , as directors of sub-district number — , township, 

county, Ohio, witnesseth : That said agrees to deliver at the school- 
house in said sub-district, on or before the — day of next, bushels of 

coal of a good quality, at cents per bushel. And said , and 



66 



, as trustees as aforesaid, are then and there to certify in favor of said 



, for the sum due for said fuel. 

Witness our hands, &c.. 



Local Directors, 



Note. — If not too lengthy, copies should be furnished to the Board of Education, as all oon- 
tracts mu&t be reported. 



ENUMERATION 1. 

Enumeration of youth between the ages of five and twenty-one years, residing in 
sub-district number township, , the , 186 — , 



Names of Parents or 
Guardians. 


Names of Children. 


Males. 


Females. 


Total 
Number. 


No of Sec. in 

which youth 

reside. 




White Youth. 
















































Colored Youth. 




































We hereby certify the above to be a correct list of the white and colored youth 
in sub district number , township, county, for the jear 186 — . 



., 186--. 



E=;! 



Local Directors. 



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Western 
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Military 

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No. in 

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:::::::::::::::.: 






Whole No. of 
white and colored 
unmarried youth, 

of both sexes, 
between the ages 
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in each township 


::::::::::::::::: 






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No. of 

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No. of 
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Total 
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No. of 
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No of 

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70 



FORM OF DEED. 

This Indenture, made the day of , one thousand eight hundred 

and , between and his wife, of the county of , 

in the State of Ohio, parties of the first part, and — , as township board 

of education of the township of , county and State aforesaid, party of the 

second part, wilnesseth : That the said parties of the first part, in consideration of 

to them duly paid before the delivery hereof, have bargained and sold, 

and by these presents do grant and convey, to the said party of the second part, 
its successors and assigns forever, [Itere describe the premises,'] with the appurte- 
nances, and all the estate, title and interest of the said parties of the first part 
therein. And the said parlies of the first part do hereby covenant and agree 
with the said party of the second part, that at the time of the delivery hereof the 
said parties ot the first part were the lawful owners of the premises above granted, 
and seized thereof in fee simple absolute, and that they will warrant and defend 
the above granted premises in the quiet and peaceful possession of the said party 
of the second part, and its successors aod assigES forever. 

In witness whereof, the said parties of the first part have hereunto set their 
hands and seals, the day and year first above written. 

Sealed and declared in presence of [seal.] 

[seal.] 

The State of Ohio, County, 

Personally appeared before me, and his wife, grantors in 

the above deed, and acknowledged the same to be their voluntary act and deed ; 

and the said being at the same time examined by me, apart from her 

said husband, and the contents of the above deed made known to her, she there 
declared that siie voluntarily signed, sealed and acknowledged the same, and that 
she is still satisfied therev^iih. 

Witness my hind and seal, this day of , A. D. 186 — . 

Note. — The Board should carefully investigate the title to property before purcbasiDg, and no 
eehcol-house should be erected until a satisfactorv title is obtained. The property sliould be 
declared in the corporate name of the " Township Beard of Education," and. not in the nanae of 
the directors. 



FORM OF LEASE. 

This Indenture, made the • day of , one thousand eight hundred 

and , between , of the county of , in the State of Ohio, 

of the first part, and the township board of education of the township of , 

county and State aforesaid, of the second part, witnesseth : That the said party of 
the first part, for the consideration hereinafter mentioned, has demised, granted 
and leased, and does hereby demise, giant and lease, unto the said party of the 
second pait, its successors and assigns, [here describe the premises,] with all the 
privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging. To have and to hold the said 

demised premises, with the appurtenances, for and during the term of from 

the day of ; and the said party of the second part, for itself and 

assigns, agrees to pay the said party of the first part, for the said premises, the 

annual rent of dollars, in quarter-yearly installments, on the — — day 

of , respectively. 



71 

In testimony whereof ^ the said parties have hereunto set their hands and seals, 

this day ot , A. D. 186—. [sbal] 

In presence of [skal.J 

Chairman of the Boards 

. [seal ] 

Clerk. 

State of Ohio, County, 

Before me personally appeared , grantor in the above instru- 
ment, and acknowledged the same to be voluntary act and deed, for the 

uses and purposes therein mentioned. 

In testimony whereof , I have hereunto subscribed my name, this day of 

, A. D.J 86— . 



Note. — If the lease be for three years or more, it must be acknowledged, attested by two wit- 
nesses, and recorded. It for a kss term, it need not be executed with these foruialidea. The 
time o. pacing rent may be filiea u^j according to contract. The consideration may be uaon^, 
or any thing else, and the form varied accordingly. 



APPOINTMENT OF ACTING MANAGER. 

, 186—. 

This day the board of education of townsliip, county, met, and, 

deeming it necessary, did appoint acting manager of schools for said 

township, and empowered him to perform the following duties : 
1. To, &c. 

By order of the Board. 

, Cleric, 



ASSIGNMENT OF SCHOLARS. 

, 186— • 

This day the board of education of township, county, met, and 

assigned scholars to primary schools in said townships as follows : 
To sub-district No. — 
A. B. 
CD. 
etc. 
To sub-district No. — 
E. F. 
G. H. 
etc. 

By order of the Board. 

, (7/«rJfe. 

Note. — A copy of the assignment to each sub-district is to be furnished to the teacher. 



72 



APPOINTMENT OF LIBRARIAN. 



186—. 



The board of education of township, county, has this day 

appointed to act as librarian, and to take charge of the school appara- 
tus in sub-district No. — , of said township, for the term of — year. 

By order of the board, 

, Clerk. 



BOND OF LIBRARIAN. 

Know all men by these presents, that we and are held and 

bound unto the State of Ohio in the sum of hundred dollars, for the pay- 
ment of which we jointly and severally bind ourselves, our and each of our heirs, 

administrators and assigns. Sealed with our seals this day of , 

eighteen hundred and sixty — . 

The condition of this obligation is such, that whereas the board of education 

of township, county, on the day of , eighteen 

hundred and sixty — , appointed and authorized said to act as librarian 

and to take charge of the school apparatus in district No. of said township. 

Now, if said shall faithfully, honestly, and impartially, and in ac- 
cordance wich such rules and regulations as may, from time to time, be prescribed 
by said board, discharge his duty under and by virtue of said appointment, for 
the term of — jear, and until his successor shall be duly appointed, then his ob- 
ligation shall be void. 

, [seal ] 

, [SEAL.J 

Attest : 



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76 



CENTRAL, OR HIGH SCHOOLS. 



Notice is hereby given by the board of education of township, 



county, that in the opinion of said board it has become desirable to establish a 
central, or high school in said township ; that for such purpose it is necessary to 

levy a tax of — mills to the dollar, {or say of hundred dollars) and that on 

the day of , at — o'clock — . — ., there will be a meeting of the qual- 
ified voters of said township, at the place of holding elections in said township, 
when and where important questions will be submitted to the voters of said town- 
ship, relative to the cost and location of the building, and other provisions neces- 
sary for the establishment of a central or high school in said township, and also 
the amount of tax which shall be levied for the purpose. 

, 186 — . By order of the Board, 

, Clerh. 



CERTIFICATE OF ANNUAL ESTIMATES. 

To the Auditor of County : 

It is hereby certified by the bo^ird of education of township that the 

entire amount of money necessary to be assessed on the taxable property of said 
township, and expended therein, for school purposes, as directed in the 22d section 
of the *' act to provide for the reorganization, supervision and maintenance of com- 
mon schools," passed March 14, 1853, is dollars, as follows : 

For continuing school six months $ 



For 



1 86 — . By order of the Board. 

, Clerh. 



ORDER ON TREASURY. 

No.—. , 186—. 

To the Treasurer — Township, County : 

Pay , dollars, for . 

By order of ike Board. 
$— , Clerk. 



FORM OF A BOND FOR TOWNSHIP TREASURERS. AS TREASURERS 
OF THE SCHOOL FUND. 

Xnow all Men hy these Presents, That we, , , and , of 

county, Ohio, are held and firmly bound, to the state of Ohio, in the sum of — dol- 
lars, for the payment of which we do jointly and severally bind ourselves, our and 
each of our heirs and legal representatives. Sealed with our seals and dated this 
— day of , in the year 186 — . 



77 

The condition of this obh'gation is, that, whereas, the said , was, on the — 

day of — , 18 — , duly elected treasurer of township, county. Now, if 

said , as treasurer, shall faithfully disburse and pay over, according to law, 

all such school or other funds, and moneys, as shall, from time to time, come into 
his hands for school purposes, then this obligation to be void ; otherwise to be and 
remain in full force. 

'"seal. 



Executed in presence of 



SEAL. 

SEAL. 



Note. — Jhis can readily be altered to apply to city treasurer, as provided in Sec 34. 



Certificate of Treasurer's Bond. 



86—. 



It is hereby certified that has executed and filed with me a bond for the 

faithful disbursement, as a treasurer of township, county, of all school 

funds that may come into his hands as such treasurer ; which bond, dated April 
— , 186 — , is in the penalty of dollars, and has been approved by the trus- 
tees of said township. 

Township Clerk said Township. 

Note — The above can be altered so as to apply to the city treasurer's bond, provided for in 
section 34. 



78 




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81 

VOUCHERS. 

No. — . A. , , 186—. ^ 

Received, , 186 — , of , treasurer of township, 

— — county, dollars, for services rendered as a teacher ia sub-district 

No. — , in said township, from the day of , 186 — , to the day 

of , 186—; in all days. 

, Teacher. 



FINAL RECEIPT OF TRE ASSURER. 

Received, , 186 — , of , late treasurer of town- 
ship, county, the foUowiog moneys and school property, to wit : 

dollars, beicg part and parcel of the fund ; also, &c. 

, Treasurer. 



APPOINTMENT OF SCHOOL EXAMINERS. 



Office of Proba.te Judge, 
county, O., , 186 — . 



Being satisfied that is a suitable person to act as a member of the 

board of school examiners for this county, under the '* act to provide for the reor- 
ganization, supervision and maintenance of common schools," passed March 14, 
1853, I do hereby appoint him to said office for the term ol two years from date, 
and until his successor shall be appointed. 

, Probate Judge. 



TO TEACHERS. 

The board of examiners of county, Ohio, will hold a meeting at the 

of , in the , on , and , the — , — and — days 

of , 186—, for the examination of teachers, under the " act to provide for the 

reorganization, supervision and maintenance of common schools," passed March 
14, 1853. 

By order of the Board, 

, Clerk. 

, , 186-. 



82 



SCHOOL TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE. 

No. — . Office of the Board op School Examiners, 

, county, 0., , 186 — . 

This is to certify, that has been examined and found competent to 

give instruction in orthography, writing, arithmetic, grammar and geography, 

, , , and having exhibited satisfactory testimonials of good moral 

character, is authorized to teach these branches in any common school within 

this county, for the term of from this dny , A. D. 186 — . 

By order of the Board, 

, [- Board of Examiners, 

. Clerk. \ 



REVOCATION OF TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE. 
To the local directors of sub-district No. — , township, county, Ohio : 

Whereas, the board of examiners of said county, on the — day of , 186 — , 

granted a certificate to , authorizing him to teach orthography, <fec., for 

the term of months, and he is now engaged as a teacher in said sub-district : 

And, whereas, it has been represented, and said board has become satisfied, 

that is an unfit person to be retained as such teacher, in consequence 

of (here state the offense). 

Therefore, you are hereby required to discharge and dismiss said 

from his said employment. His said certificate is revoked. 

By order of the Board, 

, Clerk. 

, 186—. 



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OPINIONS OF COMMISSIONERS 



CHAPTER XXI. 
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON THE SCHOOL LAW. 

QuES. 2. — How is the township clerl^ to be paid for making an abstract of the 
enumeration returned to him ? 

Ans. — By the township, as for other services of like nature rendered as town- 
ship clerk. 

QuES 3. — When the directors neglect to take the enumeration, and the township 
clerk employs and pays a person to do it, how is the clerk to reimburse himself? 

Ans — Charge the amount so paid in account with the township; and then 
proceed to collect it of the delinquent directors, and credit the amount so collected 
to the school fund of the township. 

QuES. 4 — Are township boards authorized by law to determine what text-books 
sball be used in the several common schools in their township, and have they a 
right to confine their selections to oiie author on each subject ? 

Ans. — These questions are both answered in the affirmative without any hesi- 
tation. 

Qdes 6. — What shall be done with those directors who do not abide by the 
decision of the township boards in regard to text-books ? 

Ans. — Endeavor to conciliate, if possible, their co-operation, by showing them 
the importance of leaving this delicate matter to the judgment of the township 
feoard, and not to the caprice or preference of every itinerant teacher that may- 
chance to be employed. Failing in this, the township board could proceed against 
them by quo warranto^ which would raise the question of authority, and, the deci- 
sion being against the reluctant directors, a writ of mandamus would bring them 
to a sense of duty. 

QuEs 7 — May persons be transferred, for educational purposes, from one town- 
ship to another, when the county line divides the township ? 

Ans. — This question is also answered in the affirmative, without any hesitation. 

QuES. 8. — Does section filteenth of the new school law relate at all to common 
sub-di^trict schools, or only to such as the township board may establish apart 
from these ? 

Ans. — To both ; for the terms "primary schools," "primary common school," 
and ** sub district school," are all used in the school law with the same import. 

QuES 14.— If a certificate expires during a school term or session, is it good 
for the entire term ? 

Ans. — Certainly not. The presentation of such a certificate would not authorize 
the township clerk to draw an order on the treasurer, in favor of the teacher, f jr 
his services during the entire term. 

QuES 15.~By an arrangement between the teacher of a private institution or 
acaoemy, and the directors of a school district in which said institution is located, 
the scholars of said district are taught in said institution. Are the principal of 
said institution or private academy, and all his assistants who give instruction to 
said district school scholars, obliged by law to obtain certificates in due form from 
the board of examiners, before the said principal or his assistants are lega'ly enti- 
tled to the school moneys belonging to said district, and applicable to the payment 
of teacher^' wages ? 



85 

Aks. — Undoubtedly tliey are. See sections 24 and 45, of the new school law. 
By the arrangement above referred to, said acadt-my became to a certain extent a 
district school ; and the township clerk can not legally draw an order on the town- 
ship treasurer, in favor of said principal, for the school moneys, or any part thereof, 
belonging to said district, except on the presentation of the proper certificates of 
all teachers, who have given lostruc ion to said district school scholars, although 
the directors should certify such amount to be due him. The true policy and 
spirit of the law is, that common school scholars — whether taught m separate 
sub-district schools, or in private iDstilutions as aloresaid — shall be instructed by 
teachers duly certificated ; otherwise the township treasurer would not be auijior- 
ized to pay over to said teacher or teachers the school moneys of said district, 
applicable on'y to the payment of teachers' wages. On this subject I entertain 
not the least doubt. 

QuEs. 16. — Does the new school law vest in the directors of the sub-district, or 
in the township boards, the right to prescribe the general rules and regulations 
for the government of the primary or sub-district schools ? 

Ans. — Id the township boards, undoubtedly; for although sec. 6 declares that 
** it shall be the duty of the school directors, in each sub-district, to take the man- 
agement and control of its local interest and affairs," etc , yet this duty must be 
performed under and in obedience to such rules and regulations as the township 
board way prescribe ; as in the case of negotiating and making contracts in relation 
to providing fuel, repairing buildings, or furnishing school -houses, etc., as provided 
for in sec. 7. A diff'erent construction of the law would defeat one of its most 
important objects, viz., that of equalizing, as far as practicable, the educational 
privileges of the several sub-districts of the tovvnship, and preventing the numerous 
disparities incident to the old independent district system. 

The law is very plain on this point, for in sec. 13 it is declared that *'it shall 
also be the further duty of said board to prescribe rules and regulations for the gov- 
ernment of all common schools within their jurisdiction." Besides, sec 11 makes 
them a body politic and corporate in law, and vests in them, in their corporate 
capacity, the title, care and custody of all school-houses, school-house sites, libra- 
ries, apparatus, and other property belonging to the school districts. It is evident, 
then, that their right to prescribe rules, etc., for the direction and government of 
the sub districts, must be paramount, and that of the directors subordinate. 

QuES 17. — Are township boards authorized to appoint the township clerk the 
acting manager of schools for the township ? 

A^s — Undoubtedly ; for sec. 10 declares "that the township board of education 
shall consist of the township clerk, and of the local director from each sub district 
of the township, who has been appointed clerk in his sub-district;" and near the 
close of sec. 13 it is declared that, •* if the board deem it necessary, they may 
appoint one of their number the acting manager of schools for the township," etc. 
The township clerk, th^n, being constituted by the law a member of the board of 
education, he may, unquestionably, be appointed the "acting manager." 

QuEs. 18 — The board of education of a township, embracing nine school districts 
under the old school law, proceeded, at a regular meeting, to re-district their town- 
ship, dividing it into five instead of nine sub-districts ; and the judge of the proper 
court, on application, granted an injunction against the proceediugs of the township 
board, on the grouad that the present school law did not authorize them to dimin- 
ish the nufnb:.'r of school districts in a township from what it was under the old 
law, but only to alter district lines. Ought the injunction to have been granted ? 

Ans —Most assuredly not ; for it was the intention of the framers of the law, 
frequently txpressed while the subj^-ct was pending in the General Assembly, to 
confer upon township boards the power to alter, by consolidation or otherwise, the 
several school districts of the townsnip, so as to equalize, to a reasonable extent, 
their territory, their number of children of school age, and their educational privi- 



86 

leges generally. But, according to the opinion of the judge in the case referred 
to, the number of school districts in any township must remain the same as the 
new school law found them. Such a construction of the law would contravene " 
one of the principal objects of the Legislature in creating township boards, viz., 
the removal of many evils incident to the old system — such as the diminution of 
the pecuniary strength of school districts by an unnecessary multiplication of them, 
and the consequent employment of an unnecessary number of teachers, from which 
resulted, as a natural consequence, the necessity of employing cheap and poorly 
qualified teachers, or of having very short school terms, to say nothing of the 
very great inequalities, in almost every respect, which existed in the several dis- 
tricts of the same township under the old law. 

But, in order to construe the present law so as to ** remove the evil and advance 
the remedy," we are not obliged to go back and look up the evils incident to the 
old law, or to gather from circumstances the intention of the lawgivers. The 
provisions of the law, touching the point at issue, are quite obvious. 

In sec. 4 it is declared that "the said board shall prepare a map of their town- 
ship as often as they deem necessary, on which shall be designated the sub-districts 
of the township, which they may cliange or alter at any regular session, and the 
number of scholars assigned to each; but no sub-district shall contain within its 
limits less than sixty resident scholars by enumeration^ except in cases where, in the 
opinion of the board, it is necessary to reduce the number " Now suppose that 
the whole number of scholars, by enumeration, in the township above referred to, 
divided by nine — the number of school districts in it at the time the new law took 
effect — should ^ive a quotient of twenty or twenty-five, or even thirty or forty, 
how could the board carry into effect that provision of the law which requires 
them to assign at least sixty scholars to each sub-district ? The mere want of nine 
times sixty scholars in the township would not constitute such an exception to the 
rule, requiring sixty scholars to be assigned to each district, as is meant by the 
expression — "except in cases where, in the opinion of the board, it is necessary 
to reduce the number." 

I am, therefore, forced to the conclusion that the judge, in granting said injunc- 
tion, was either prejudiced against this provision ot the law, or that he did not 
read it understandingly. 

QuES. 20.— Has the board of education a legal right to prohibit from a sub- 
district school persons over twenty-one years ot age? 

Ans. — Undoubtedly ; for the limits of school age are five to twenty-one years. 

In section 16 of the school law it is declared *' that the board may admit to the 
schools of ^i'^^er grade" — meaning the high or central schools — "scholars over 
twenty-one years of age." Under the provision embraced in section 13, which 
declarts that "it shall be the further duty of the board to prescribe rules and 
regulations for the government of all the common schools within their jurisdiction," 
there can be no doubt that the board possesses the power to prescribe the conditions 
upon which persons over twenty-one years of age may be admitted to the sub- 
district schools 

It cannot be the design of the law to debar those who are destitute of an edu- 
cation from the privileges of our common schools, simply because they happen to 
be over twenty-one. But such persons can not claim the privilege, as a matter of 
course. They must obtain a permit from the board, or from the directors of the 
sub-district, in accordance with the rules prescribed by the board in regard to this 
subject. If the applicants are not qualified to enter the high school, or if there 
be no high school, and the sub-district be not so full that their attendance would 
materially incommode those under twenty-one years of age, then the board, or the 
directors under the rules of the board, may properly grant them a permit, in 
writing, to attend the school. 

In short, those who have reached their majority should be treated like minor 



87 

ehildren who are not residents of the sub-district. Their participation in the 
privileges of the school should depend upon the pleasure of the board, or of the 
directors, in the absence of any regulations prescribed by the board. 

QuES. 21. — On New-Year's evening the scholars saw fit to bar the door of a 
school-house, and to resist the demand of the directors and teacher to open the 
same, unless a treat of two dollars should be granted. The demand of the 
scholars was backed up by many of their parents, and by some of the magistrates, 
who claimed that the directors had no redress, and that the boys had a full right, 
by the law of custom, to set up against the teacher the claim above mentioned, 
and exclude him from the school-house till he should comply with their request. 
At length the teacher paid the two dollars, and so the whole matter was quieted ; 
but it came very near breaking up the school. Upon the above case my opinion 
has not only been solicited, but I am requested to refer the matter to the Attorney- 
General for an opinion. The question is also propounded, whether it would be 
proper and legal to refund to the teacher the two dollars paid by him as aforesaid, 
out of the school moneys belonging to said district. 

Opinion and Ans. — To decide the above case, the opinion of the Attorney- 
General is not needed, for the school law settles the matter beyond the contin- 
gency of a doubt. Section 11 declares that ** the township board of education in 
each township of the State, and their successors ia office, shall be a body politic 
and corporate in law, and, as such, may contract and be contracted with, sue and 
be sued, plead and be impleaded, in any court of law or equity in this State ; 
that they shall be and hereby are invested, in their corporate capacity, with the 
title, care and custody of all school-houses and school-house sites,*' etc , **^o control 
the same in such manner as they may think will best subserve the interests of com- 
mon schools and the cause of education" 

In section 13 it is also declared that **it shall be the further duty of said board 
to prescribe rules and regulaiions for the government of all the common schools 
within their jurisdiction." 

Now any person or persons excluding a teacher from his school-house, for the 
purpose stated in the case submitted to me, or for any other purpose, unless duly 
authorized to do so by the township board, or by the ** rules and regulations" 
prescribed by them, are trespassers, and, as such, are liable to the same penalties, 
at the suit of said township board, as at the suit of a private citizen, whose private 
dwelling they should close against him, with a view of extorting his money. The 
existence of the improper and absurd custom to which reference is made does not 
affect the case. Custom, especially a vicious and improper one, can never be 
pleaded against a positive statutory enactment. Even the common law of England 
yields when it comes in conflict with a parliamentary enactment, the expressed 
will of the law-making power. Let it be distinctly understood, then, that any 
person or persons closing the doors of a school-house, and stopping a school, 
without an express order or permission from the township board, are trespassers, 
and liable to treble damages. 

The two dollars paid by the teacher can not legally be refunded out of the 
school money, and, should the directors make any such misapplication of the 
school fund, it would be good cause for withholding from their district its share 
of the school fund the subsequent year. I have written very plainly in relation 
to this matter, because I feel that it is high time the ridiculous and absurd custom 
referred to should be banished from the State, as a remnant of the ''dark ages." 
When so much is being done to elevate the character, improve the condition and 
extend the usefulness of our common schools, and to make them not oaly nurseries 
of sound learning, but of those elevated feelings and virtuoa- sentiments which 
adorn and dignify human character, it is a disgrace that any community should for 
a moment countenance a custom which, in the estimation of all sensible and judi- 
cioas men, is degrading in all its tendencies, and subversive of good order. 



88 

QuES. 22 — What entitles chilt^ren to the right of attending a particular school, 
and what precludes them from that right? 

Ans — All children of school age are entitled to the privilege of attending the 
school in which their parents, guardians, or employers reside, unless excluded by 
the directors, on account of their misconduct. In other words, all children inclu- 
ded in the annual enumeration of the directors of any school distiict, are entitled 
to attend the school in such district. The annual enumeration should include all 
the children over five and under twenty-one years of age, who shall, at the time of 
taking such enumeration, actually be in the district, constituting a part of the fam- 
ily of their parents, guardians, or employers, if such parents, guardians, or em- 
ployers, actually reside, at the time, in such district, although such r» sidence be 
temport*ry ; but such enumeration shou'd not include childr< n belorging to the 
family of any person who shall be an in! abitant of any other district in this State, 
in which such children may, by law, be included in the enumeration of its direc- 
tors. As to what constitutes a residence in law, the courts have decided that a 
man cannot gain a residence in a place unless he goes there ** with ike intention of 
remainwff.'* If, however, a person who is not an inhabitant of some other district, 
resides temporarily in a given district, all the children belonging to his family, 
should be included in the enumeration, and be permitted to attend the school in 
said district. 

Children of non-resident parents, coming into a district and hoardivg for the 
purpose of attending school therein, are not entitled to such privileges, as a matter 
of course ; but they may be admitted into such school with the approbation, in 
writing, of the directors thereof, and upon such terms as they may deem just; but 
such permission should not be granted to the children of non-resident parents, nor 
to persons over twenty-one years of age, if by such admission the school would 
become too much crowded. In such cates it would be proper to charge tuition ; 
for such n- n-iesident children are not entitled, as a matter of course, to any share 
of the public school fund belonging to such district ; and their tuition in such case 
may be charged, in the first instance, to the person with whom the children of 
non-resident parents board, uoless, by express notice in writing, he declines being 
accountable for such tuition. "When, however, such children are hired to labor or 
service, in good faith, in the family of an inhabitant of the district, or are regarded 
and treated as a part of the family of such inhabitant, and not merely temporary 
hoarders, they are entitled to participate, equally with the other children of the 
district, in the privileges of the school. 

QuES. 23. — Are the local treasurers of the special school districts, mentioned in 
the part of sec. 67 of the new school act, required to settle with county auditors 
for all school moneys which may come into their hands as such treasurers ? 

Ans.— Undoubtedly ; if not so required, a large portion of the school fund 
would not be accounted for at the office of said auditors. 

Sec 29 requires township treasurers to settle annually, between the 1st and 20th 
of February, with the county auditor, and account to him for all the moneys re- 
ceived ; from whom, and on what account, and the amount paid out for school 
purposes in his township. It also requires him to examine the vouchers for such 
payments, and if satisfied with the correctness thereof, to certify the same ; which 
certificate is declared to be, prima facie, a discharge of such treasurer, etc. Sec. 
34 imposes similar duties and obligations upon the treasurers of cities and incor- 
porated villages, which have been constituted special school districts by sec. 32. 

From the fact that sec. 67 requires the several school boards, or other school 
officers, acting under the provisions of any of the acts to which reference is made 
in this section, to make similar reports of school statistics annually ; and from the 
fact that this section torbids county treasurers to pay over any portion of the school 
fund to any local treasurer, etc., except on the order of the proper county, and 



89 

forbids any such order to be drawn by bim, unless tbe local treasurer, etc., sball 
first deposit -with said auditor an abstract of tbe enumeration of scbolars, and otber 
statistics, relative to the schools under their charge, as required by the law, of 
teachers, 1 cal directors, f^nd boards of education in townships, etc., it is reason- 
able to iofer that the treasurers of these special boards of e lucation should settle 
with the auditors of their proper counties, in the manner prescribed in sec. 29, for 
treasurers of townships. 

QuES. 24. — Is each part o{ 2^ fractional district entitled to three directors, and a 
representative in the township board ? 

Ans — Certainly not — for this would give to eacb part of such district equal 
power with an entire district. This is evidently not in accordance with the spirit 
of the law, or with the intention of its framers. The misapprehension has arisen 
from the language used in the first section : *' The several scho '1 districts and 
fractional parts thereof, which now are or may hereafter be established in the sev- 
eral organized townships of the state, shall be regarded as sub-districts, and be 
confided to the management and control of local directors, as hereinafter pro- 
vided " 

By the expression *• and fractional parts thereof ^'^^ is meant those sub-districts 
which contain territory lying in two or more townships. Hereafter, for the sake 
of avoiding misapprehension, I shall designate such sub-districts by the term joint 
sub-districts, and those sub-districts which lie wholly in one township, by the 
appellation of entire sub-districts, or simply suh -districts. 

It was the intention of the law t > declare all the old school districts to be sub- 
districts. Of course, a school district, though composed of fractional parts of 
adjoining townships, was still but one sub district, and entitled to elect, as provi- 
ded in section 2d, ** at the usual hour and place of balding district meetings," 
but one set of local directors, composed of three persons only — one of whom would 
be chosen clerk, and as such would be entitled to a seat in the township board of 
education in that township in which the school house m^ght be located, no matter 
where the clerk might reside, so that he be a resident within the limits of the 
school district. For school purposes, he represents all the fractional parts of the 
sub-district, reside in which fraction he may, in the board of education of that 
township in which the school house happens to be located. Sec. 16. 

UuES 30 — Are members of township boards of education eniitled by law to 
compensation for their services ? 

Ans. — The above question has been addressed to the commissioner at least 
fifty times, and each time it has been answered, unhesitatingly, in the negative. 
A proposition to pay them was voted down while the school law was pending in 
the late general assembly. 

Officers created by the school law cannot claim an allowance for their services, 
unless the law, in express terms, so declares. The reasons assigned at the time 
tbe school law was under consideration, for not allowing members of township 
boards of education a compensation for their services, were the great number of 
salaried school officers that would thereby be created, and the general belief that 
after a few years it would not be necessary for such boards to meet more than 
twice in each year, and that the management and supervision of the different 
schools, and the educational interests of the township could be performed by the 
*• acting manager,*' whom the board is authorized to appoint, and to whom ** they 
may allow a reasonable compensation for his services." Sec 13 

QuES. 31. — Are township clerks entitled to remuneration fur their services as 
members of the township boards of eduC'ition — or for making and transmitting to 
county auditors, abstracts of the enumeration returned to them — or for taking the 
enumeration in cas'^ the directors in any sub district fail to take and return the 
same — or for filling vacancies in the boards of local directors — or for drawing in 



90 

favor of teachers — or for acting as clerks at meetings relative to central or higli 
schools — or for prosecuting township treasurers on their bonds — or for reporting 
to the state commissioner when required to do so 1 If so, from whom and from 
what funds ? 

Ans. — These questions, or at least some of them, have been propounded per- 
haps a hundred times, and have as often been answered as follows, viz : 

The rule on this subject is understood to be, that township or county officers, 
neither salaried nor created by the school law, but upon whom it imposes certain 
new duties, are entitled to the same allowance out of their respective county or 
township treasuries, for services performed and expenses incurred under the 
school law, as is allowed them for other services of Uke nature rendered in their 
official capacity. 

QuEs. 32 — Are township treasurers to be paid for services performed under the 
school law, out of the township school fund ? 

Ans — Certainly not ; but out of the township treasury ; for near the close of 
sec. 28, it is declared that *' the township trustees" — (not the township board of 
education) — ** shall allow the township treasurer a compensation equal to one per 
cent on"— not one per cent, o/'— ** all school funds by him disbursed.'* 

QuES. 37. — In a certain township, embracing, before the passage of the new 
school law, nine school districts, the electors thereof proceeded to elect, on the 
second Monday of April last, three local directors in each of said sub -districts. 
In due time, said directors took the oath of office required by law, met and or- 
ganized by appointing one of their number clerk of the sub-district. 

On the third Monday of April last, the said clerks of the said nine sub districts, 
together with the clerk of the township, met and organized as a township board of 
education according to law. They then proceeded to re-district their township 
according to the provisions of sec 14 of the new school act, reducing the number of 
sub-districts from nine to six, They next proceeded to determine by estimate, the 
amount of money necessary to be raised for school purposes, according to the pro- 
visions of sec. 22, and certified the same to the county auditor, &c. Now some of 
the inhabitants refuse to pay the tax, and threaten an injunction, if an effort be 
made to enforce its collection, on the ground that the board, by the act of redu- 
cing the number of sub-districts have virtually ousted themselves, or, at least, a 
part of themselves, of their office as members of said board, and, therefore, they 
could not legally make the estimate as aforesaid. The question is, are they by 
such act ousted of their office as members of the township board ? 

Ans. — Certainly not ; for they have performed no unauthorized act. The law 
absolutely required them so to re-district their township as that "no sub district 
should contain less than sixti/ resident scholars by enumeration, excepting cases 
where in the opinion of the board, it was necessary to reduce the number." 

The error of those who raise the objection to the legality of the proceedings of 
the board, lies in the fact, that they Jiave entirely overlooked the circumstance, 
that as soon as said board was organized, its members held two offices, one as 
local directors of their particular sub-districts, and the other as members of the 
township board of education. By the act of abolishing some of the sub-districts, 
they abolished the suh-office only of the members from the abolished districts. 

The township board is, of course, re-organized every year, and its members hold 
their office for the year, whatever alterations or changes they may make in the 
sub-districts. On the third Monday of April in each year, each sub-district sends 
up its clerk to constitute the township board for the ensuing year. 

When a sub-district is abolished and its territory attached to other sub- districts, 
the jurisdiction of the local directors of those sub-districts to which said territory 
is attached, is extended over such territory so attached, and the office of the local 
directors of the sub-district so abolished, is ended. 



91 

QuEs. 39.— There is in the fractional township of Washington, three hundred 
and twenty acres of school lands belonging to said township. The citizens of snd 
township, 'in 1852, under the act of March 6, 1861, e'ected three trustees and one 
treasurer to take charge of said lands, and to lease the same. The annual pro- 
ceeds from the rents amount to the sum of $135 50. The sum of 8 135 50 is 
now in the hands of said treasurer, being the proceeds of one year's rents. Said 
trustees sold rail timber to the amount of $60 75, which sum is also in the hands 
of said trustees and treasurer. Said trustees received from the C. C. & C R. R. 
the sum of $300 as damages for the right ot way, which sum is also in the hands 
of said trustees and treasurer. Said treasurer refuses to pay said sums of money 
into the township treasury, unless said trustees authorize him so to do, and the 
said trustees refuse to give said order. 

The said trustees and treasurer pretend to derive all their powers from the 8th 
and 9th sections of the act to incorporate the original surveyed townships, passed 
March 14, 1831, and refuse to pay over said fund to the township treasurer, but 
keep it loaned out among themselves, and will not allow the board of education 
to make a distribution of it. What is to be done ? 

Ans. — The case above presented is a plain one ; for sections 8 and 9 of the act 
of 1831, are modified by the present school law, which declares, in section 17, 
** That the township treasurer in each township, shall be the treasurer of school 
funds for school purposes, belonging to the township, arising from whatever source;'' 
and in section 24, it also declares that " all school funds which may come into the 
hands of the township treasurer, from whatever source, shall be paid out only on 
the order of the clerk of the board of education, under the direction of the 
board ;" and near the close of the same section, it is further declared that ** such 
school funds as arise from the sale or rents of section sixteen, or other lands in lieu 
thereof, shall be distributed to the localities to which such funds belong." 

Section first of the new school act, makes " each organized township in the 
State, but one school district for all purposes connected with the general interests of 
education in the township;'* and section 27 makes the township treasurer, the 
treasurer of such general school district, thus dispensing with school district treas- 
urers. 

Now, then, it must be obvious that the township school treasurer takes the place 
of the former school district treasurers ; and the treasurer of the moneys in ques- 
tion, is bound by the new school law to pay them over — not ** to the treasurers of 
the several school districts," as specified in section 9 of the act of 1831, for there 
are now no such treasurers — but to the township treasurer, as school treasurer 
of the entire township ; and the township treasurer must pay them over to the 
districts or parts of districts to which they belong, on the order of the township 
board of education. 

It is manifest, then, that section 9 of the act of 14th March, 1831, is modified 
by the new school law, and must be so construed as to harmonize with sections 
1, 24 and 27 of the present school law. 

Should the trustees of said 320 acres of school lands persist in their refusal to 
direct their treasurer to pay over said moneys to the township treasurer, the 
township board may apply to the court for a mandamus. 

QaES. 40. — In several townships a coEflict of jurisdiction has arisen between 
the local directors and township boards of education. The question submitted is, 
what are the respective limits of the jurisdiction of school officers ? 

Ans. — The duties of township boards Are general, and their jurisdiction extends 
over the entire township ; the duties of local directors are special, and their juris- 
diction is limited to a particular sub-district, and by the general rules prescribed 
by the township board, according to the provision of section 13, of the school law, 
which declares '* that it shall be the duty of said board to prescribe rules and 
regulations for the government of all the common schools wilhiii their jurisdiction." 



92 

These gfeneral rules relate to the alteration of the boundaries of sub-districts; 
the seJection of school-house sites ; size, structure and furniture of school- houses ; 
the course of study for each grade of schools, and the selection of the text, books 
to be use I in the schools of the township; the care and preservation of school- 
houses, school furniture, apparatus, library and other school property ; the assign- 
ment of scholars to the several grades of schools wherever such gr ides are estab- 
lished, and the admission ot scholars to, and their dismissal from any of the schools 
in the township 

The duties and powers of the local directors, in each sub-district und^T the 
general regulations prescribed by the township board, are, the particular manage- 
ment and control of its local interests and affvirs ; the employment of teachers, 
fixing their salaries, and certifying the amount due them to the township clerk; 
the dismissal of any teacher, at any time, for such reasons as they may deem 
suflScient ; the visitaiion of their schools, or the selection of persons to visit them ; 
the negotiating and making of all necessary contracts in relation to providmg fuel 
for schools ; repairing, building, or furnishing school houses ; purchasing or leas- 
ing school-house sites; renting school rooms; and making all other provisions 
necessary for the convenience and prosperity of the schools within their sub-dia- 
tricts ; taking the enumeration of children in their sub-districts, appointing libra- 
rians for the district library, determining the place where it shall be kept, and 
seeing that the library and apparatus are prop rly pres< rved. 

All these duties may be performed, and all these powers exercise!, subject 
only to the restrictions of the general rules prescribed by the township board of 
education. 

Township boards and local directors, disposed to act in good faith and with due 
regard to each other's rights, powers, and duties, will, it is believed, be able to 
execute their respective offices without inconvenience or difficulty. 

The Commissi' mer regrets to state that a few cases have come to his knowledge, 
in which township boards- have interfered quite too much with the powers and 
duties appertaining to local directors ; and local directors, on the other hand, 
have in home instances manifested unreasonable reluctance to obey, and, in a few 
instances, a contumacious determination to disregard all the ruies and regulations 
prescribed by the township board, however needful such rules might be to promote 
the best interests of the schools of the township. 

Such ill judged interference on the one side, and obstinacy on the other, can 
lead to no good results, and may prove disastrous to the schools, if long persisted 
in by school offi ;ers. 

QtJEs. 45, — When one local director only is to be elected at the annual sub- 
district meeting, and two persons receive an equal number of votes for the office, 
how IS the election to be decided ? 

Ans — A ** lie vote" in such a case as the one submitted, is tantamount to a 
" failure to meet and elect," and the remedy for such an event, is provided for in 
section four ot the school law. 

Aft^r waiting a reasonable time for a special mee'ing of the voters to be called 
as prescribed m said section, if none be called, the township clerk may fill the 
vacancy by app )intment, as provided in section three. 

Quss. 46. — Does the sub-district clerk hold his office as such, during his con- 
tinuance ia offi(3e as director, or one year only ? 

Ans — The clerk of a sub-district holds his office as such, for one year, or until 
a successor shrill be elected. 

The rule as well as the practice in boards of education, and all similar boards, 
so far as my imormation extends on this subject, is for such boards to reorganize 
annually in all cases where a pirt of their members are elected, and a part of 
them go out of office at the end of each year. 

QuES. 48. — The citizens of school district No. 7, Union township, Hincock 



93 

county, state the subjoined facts, in relation to the above district, viz : seven- eighths 
of the population of said district are on the two south sections of said d'strict in 
and near the village of Cannonsburg The district has had a eite which is central 
to the two south sections, and a school house on it for the last twelve or fourteen 
years. Five or six families, now residing on the east, west, and southwest secdons 
of the prei-ent site, are obliged to send trom one to one and a halt miles ; and the 
two or three families residina: on the north sections send an equal distance. The 
board of education have ordered the erection of the school-houses at the geo- 
graphical centers of the districts. What is ihe rule and the law on this subject? 

Ans. — In section 14 of the new school act, it is declared that, •* in the location 
of schools, the board shall have reference to population and neighborhood, paying 
due regard to any school-house alrtady built or hite procured y as well as to all other 
circuQjstances proper to be cocsidered, so as to promote the best interests of the 
schools. Hence it would seem it is not the intention of the legislature to regard, 
in all cases, the geographical center of a district as the proper site for a school- 
house ; nor should the center as to population determine the site, for such a rule 
might oppress the minority. 

Leaving out of consideration the school-house already erected and the site pro- 
cured, it might be a safe rule to regard as a suitable site some point nearly inter- 
mediate the geographical center, and the center as to population. It is better that 
half a dozen children should be required to walk a distance of somewhat more 
than a mile, than that fifty children should be compelled to walk that distance 
to school. 

If the two northern sections of said district are rapidly increasing in population, 
or are likely to so increase in the course of a few years, that fact should be taken 
into the account in locating the site ; or if there is a prospect that the two northern 
sections will soon have a population sufi&cient for a separate school, it would seem 
best not to change ihe old site in the southern sections. But if there is no proba- 
bihty that more than one school will be required for the population of the four 
sections, then regard should be paid to the present, as well as prospective distri- 
bution of the population of the entire district. 

In adjusting this matter, the members of the board should, in imagination at 
least, endeavor to place themselves in the several situations and condition of the 
inhabitants of the entire district, and from these several points of view, carefully 
consider the interests of all, and then fix upon a site which will accommodate the 
greatest number, and, at the same time, seriously incommode none. 

QuEs. 60. — Whose duty is it to deternaine what text books shall be used in the 
common schools ? 

Ans. — In numerous instances I have been request*^d to recomjiend a series of 
text books tor the common schools of this State. My uniform response to such 
requests has been, and will continue to be, that the duty of determining the studies 
to be pursued, and the school books to be used in the several schools under their 
control, devolves, according to section 17 of the new school act, upon the boards 
of education in the several townships of the State. 

On the several subjects of study usually pursued in the common schools, there 
are some half a dozen or more series of text books of nearly equal merit — works 
upon which men of science, experience and ability have bestowed much thought 
and labor, and in which they have invested their capital. It would, therefore, be 
unjust to such authors and their publishers, for ttie Commissioner of common 
schools to throw the influence of his official position in favor of one or the other 
of such meritorious text books. 

Again : I am inclia-d to the opinion, that less importance should be attached 
to slight, differences in the comparative merits of school books than to the ad- 
vantages of stabilitv, and the importance of employing a teacher well qualified to 
impart instruction in a proper manner, whatever text book he may be required to 



91 

use in his school. To a competent teacher, it is not a matter of very great moment 
whether he uses this or that arithmetic, grammar or geography ; for he can 
accomplish a good work with a text book of moderate excellence, while an iodiflfer- 
ent teacher might fail with one of very superior merits. While, therefore, I shall 
studiously avoid publishing any opinions upon any of the series submitted for my 
approval or disapproval, yet I shall not hesitate to express my views freely to 
individuals who may desire to know my opinion in relation to any series of school 
books. In regard to the several series upon which I have recently been requested 
to make known my opinion, I may be permitted to state, that if I were employed 
in a school in which any one of them were used, I should not take the trouble to 
change them. The adaptation of this or that series of school books often depends 
more upon the manner in which both teacher and pupil have been in the habit of 
investigating a particular subject, than upon the abstract merits of the text book 
used. There is, not unfrequently, more advantage in knowing how to use a 
particular tool or implement, than in its relative excellence. 

Township boards of education, with the aid and advice of their best teachers, 
should endeavor, as soon as practicable, to fix upon some one series, and then 
adhere to it until some new work shall make its appearance, with such superior 
merit as to warrant the expense of a change. It is the custom in many localities, 
when the school board has determined upon the books to be used, to adhere to 
them for at least five years, and then call a meeting for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing whether any changes are really demanded. Such a course is productive of 
many advantages. It helps to give stability to a school system, enabling pupils 
to progress regularly with their several studies, and prevents much needless 
expense to parents. 

QuES. 62. — Our school district is over two and a half miles square, and in the 
very center of it lies a farm of some three hundred acres of land, and the owner 
utterly refuses to convey any portion of it for a school-house site. Is there any 
law by which our local directors, or the township board of education, can procure 
a site for a school-bouse on said farm, if the owner persists in his refusal to sell 
or lease ? 

^15 s. — There is no such law. A bill was introduced into the late general 
assembly providing a mode by which township boards of education might, under 
circumstances like those stated above, obtain a suitable site for a school-house. 
The bill passed the lower house, but was lost in the senate. The law should 
most unquestionably make some provision for procuring school-house sites where 
th« owners of the land refuse, without good cause, to sell. If it is right to con- 
demn land for railroads, no good reason can be assigned why some similar provi- 
sion should not be made for the benefit of common schools and the cause of 
education. The reason, no doubt, that such a law was not enacted by the late 
general assembly, was that a majority of the senators and representatives could 
not bring their minds to believe that in this land of common schools, this repub- 
lican country, where the principle is fully recognized ** that theie is no security 
for a free government, but in the intelligence and virtue of the people," any gentle- 
man could be found who would not, for love or money, accommodate his friends, 
his neighbors, the rising generation, his country and humanity, by selling or 
leasing to them a small piece of ground for a school-house site 1 

QuES. 54. — Is a colored person eligible to the office of local director, in the 
sub-district in which he resides ? and if appointed clerk in his sub-district, can he 
lawfully claim a seat in the township board of education ? 

^jjs. — In article XV., sec. 4, of the constitution of Ohio, the following language 
is used, viz : ** No person shall be elected or appointed to any office in this state, 
unless he possess the qualifications of an elector." 

Section 1, article V., of the same instrument, reads as follows, to wit : " Every 
whUe male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall 



95 

have been a resident of the state one year next preceding the election, and of the 
county, township, or ward in which he resides, such time as may be provided by 
law, shall have the qualifications of an elector, and be entitled to vote at all 
elections." 

From the above provisions of the constitution of this state, it is obvious that 
colored persons are not eligible to the office of local director of a sub-district. 

Siihools for colored youth must be established, regulated and controlled by town- 
ship boards of education, in accordance with the provisions contained in sec. 31 of 
the new school act. 

QuES. 55. — Is it lawful for a township board of education to abolish a sub-dis- 
trict containing more than sixty resident scholars, by enumeration, for the purpose 
of annexing the territory thereof to an incorporated village containing not less than 
three hundred inhabitants, when a majority of the legal voters of said district are 
opposed to such annexation ? 

Ans. — In sec 33 of the new school act, it is declared that " It shall be lawful 
for the township board of education in any township in which a city or incorporated 
village is situated, by and with the consent of the board of education of said city 
or incorporated village, to transfer, for educational purposes, the scholars of such 
parts of their respective townships as lie adjacent thereto, and that such transfer 
shall be controlled, and such school supported in the same manner, and on the like 
principle, as in cases of like transfers for the convenience of schools, where two or 
more townships adjoin, as provided in this act.'* 

In sec. 16, it is declared that " Whenever it shall happen that persons are so 
situated as to be better accommodated at the school of an adjoining township, it shall 
be the duty of the respective boards of the townships in which such persons reside, 
to transfer them for educational purposes." 

From the above provisions of the law, it is obvious that the propriety, as well as 
the legality, of annexing territory and transferring persons to cities and incorporated 
villages, for school purposes, must be determined on the principle of " the better 
accommodation of the persons " requesting to be transferred ; and the wishes of the 
persons so to be transferred constitute the best evidence of such ** better accommoda- 
tion.** 

QuES. 57. — When a person is employed to teach school by the mouth, of how 
many days shall a month consist? On what holidays may a teacher dismiss his 
school ? To what vacations would a teacher be entitled when employed by the 
year? 

Ans. — The holidays on which a teacher may dismiss his school, are such as it 
is customary to observe, either through the country or in particular localities ; 
among these may be enumerated the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 
New Year, etc. 

The teacher may, also, unless restrained by special contract to the contrary, 
dismiss his school on the afternoon of each Saturday, or on every Saturday, or 
every alternate Saturday, according to the particular custom of the district in that 
respect. In the absence of an express agreement to the contrary, a school month 
consists oi four weeks, or a calendar month, according to the particular custom of 
the district, city, or township. If, in a particular locality, four weeks have been 
regarded as a school month, and both teacher and directors are cognizant of the 
custom when the former is employed, and the contract between the parties does 
not expressly declare what shall be considered a month, the matter of lime must 
be determined by the particular custom of the place. 

The length of vacations to which the teachers are entitled when employed to 
teach by the year, is, like the length of a school month, determined by custom, in 
the absence ot an express agreement between the parties. 

QuES. 69. — When a local director is appointed clerk of a sub-dijstrict, does he 



96 

hold his office as a member of the township board of education during the entire 
term for whch he whs elected local director of his sub-district ? 

j^jjs. — He ho'ds his office as such clerk for one year, and until his successor is 
elected and qualified. 

The rule, as well as the practice, which has generally been adopted by school 
directors, boards of education, and all similar boards or bodies co porate, where 
some of the members are elected, and others go out of office annually, or at stated 
peiiods, is to organize as often as such new members are elected. 

This is a convenient rule ; for in case the cltrk of the board of local directors 
does not satisfactorily represent the wishes of his district in thi township board, 
the inhabitants of the district can, at the next annual election, take sucli measures 
as will secure the appointment of another person to said office. 

QuES. 60. — How are transfers of territory to be made to cities and incorporated 
villages organized as to schools under the *• act for the better regulation of schools 
in cities, towns," etc., passed February 21, 1849, or other acts creating special 
school districts? 

Ahs. The rule in delation to the transfers of territory to or from special school 

districts, is the same as in the case of cities and villages organized as to schools 
under the provisions of the general school law, as expressed in the last clause of 
sec. 32, and sec. 33 of the new school act. 

It is perfectly competent and lawful for the board of education of a township in 
which a special district is situated, by and with the consent of the board of educa- 
tion of such special district, to transfer thereto, for educational purposes, the 
scholars of such parts of the township as lie adjacent thereto, when the inhabitants 
of the territory to be annexed desire it, and when their better accommodation, as 
well as the best interests of the schools and the cause of education, would justify 
the transfer. 

QuES 61. Are township boards of education authorized by law to change or 

alter the sub-districts in their respective townships, at any other than the regular 
meetings of the board ? 

^j^s. In section 12 of the new school law, it is declared that "it shall be the 

duty of township boards of education to hold regular sessions on the third Mondays 
of April and of September of each year, with power to adj. urn, from time to time, 
or to hold special meeiings at any oiher time or place within the proper township, 
as they may think desirable for the transaction of business," viz : ** business which 
may be necessary in relation to the subject of either the primary or graded schools 
of the township " 

Section fourteen authorizes said boards to change or alter, at any regular session^ 
the sub-districts of the township. 

From the above language, it is obvious that theframers of the law did not intend 
to authorize the re-districting of townships, except at the regular meetings of the 

It would seem that they regarded the rights and interests involved in the change 
or alteration of school districts, as of too grave a character to justify such change 
or alteration at a special meeting, called at any tioae, and with very little publicity 
amon-^ the inhabitants in regard to what was going to be transacted at such special 
meeting. . . 

It would be well if all such alterations were made at the regular meetmg m 
April. The school moneys derived from the State tax being distributed to several 
sub-districts in the township, in proportion to the enumeration of scholars, a great 
practical inconvenience would result from the alteration of districts at the regular 
meeting in September; for the law requires the directors in each sub district to 
take, or cause to be taken, annually, between the first and third Monday of Septem- 
ber,'an enumtration of all unmarried white and colored youth, noting them sep- 
arately, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, resident withm such sub- 



97 

district, and not temporarily there, and return a certified copy thereof to the 
township clerk. 

To re district a township at the regular meeting in September, after the enumer- 
ation is taken, would prevent the distribution of the school moneys derived Irom 
the State tax among the several sub-districts in the township, accjrJing to the 
number of youth in each, after such alteration has been made. 

Whenever, therefore, it becomes necessary to re-district a township at the Sep- 
tember meeting, the local directors should be requested to postp )ne taking the 
enumeration until such alterations are made, so that the school moneys applicable 
to the payment of teachers may be distributed among the several sub-distrieta 
according to the number of scholars of school age in each sub-district as altered. 

QuES. 63. — Are township boards of education legally empowered to change or 
alter school districts, by consolidation or otherwise, at special meetings ? 

Ans — They are not ; for sec. 14 empowers them to change or alter sub-districts 
at any regular sessions on the third Monday of April and September in each year, 
with power, however, to adjourn, from time to time, until all the business required 
to be transacted at regular meetings shall have been accomplished. 

A regular meeting, then, adjourned from day to day, or from week to week, etc., 
is still a regular meeting, at which sub-districts may be changed or altered. 

The framers of the law seemed to regard the re-districting of a township, as 
well as the change or alteration of a sub-district, as matters of too much import- 
ance to be performed at any other than the regular meetings of the board, notice 
of which would be brought to every inhabitant of the township or sub-district by 
the law itself. Besides, if alterations are required, they should be made as the 
law requires, in April or September, just previous to the opening of the winter or 
spring sessions of the schools. Great practical inconvenience might result from 
such change or alteration in the middle of a school term or session, and township 
boards of education be greatly embarrassed in distributing the school moneys 
applicable to the payment of teachers. 

QuES. 67. — In a sub-district in which a new school-house is being erected for 
the accommodation of three hundred and fifty scholars, ^300 is needed to complete 
the new house and repair the old one ; and the questions submitted are, how shall 
the money be raised, in case the township board of education refuse to certify the 
amount so needed to the county auditor for assessment on the taxable property of 
the township, on or before the first Monday of June next ; and ?yhether the local 
directors of said sub-district are legally empowered to borrow the said sum of 
$300, and secure its payment by executing a mortgage upon the said school- 
house ? 

Ans. — In sec. 7 of the school law, it is declared that all contracts for the specific 
purposes therein mentioned, must be negotiated and made *' under such rules and 
regulations as the township board of education may prescribe," and that local 
directors are not empowered to enter into contracts involving an expenditure be- 
yond a certain amount, without authority from the township board. 

As the township board, by the provisions contained in sec 11. is made a "body 

politic and corporate in law — capable of contracting and being contracted with 

and as such is vested, in its corporate capacity, with the title, care and custody of 
all shool-houses," etc , it follows, as a matter of course, that local directors are 
not empowered to ex^^cute mortgages upjn school- houses or other school property 
to raise funds for school purposes. 

It is exceedingly questionable whether even township boards of education possess 
any such power ; for in sec. 43, it is expressly declared that ** eaoh an 1 every Jot 
or parcel of 1 iud which heretofore has been, or hereafter shall be, appropriated 
for the use of common schools in this staic, on which there lias been or sUh.I1 be a 
schojl-house erected, and which has been or shall be occupied for the purpose of 
accommodating a common school of whatever grade, in the usual mciauer, from 
7 



98 

time to time, bowsoever or by wborasoever tbe legal title to tbe same may be held 
and vested, shall be, and the same is hereby exempted from the sale on execution, 
or other writ or order in the nature of an execution'* 

A school-house and site being thus exempted from sale, etc , it would seem that 
a mortgage executed on the same, to secure the cost of building a new school- 
house, could be of no validity. 

Bet-ides, there can be no need of any such security ; for when the township 
board authorizes the local directors of a sub-district to regotiate and make a con- 
tract for the erection of a new school-house, etc , the last clause of section 7 holds the 
township board ** responsible in its coroorate capacity for the performance there- 
of ;" and should they neglect or refuse to make and certify at the proper time, 
the necessary estimates therefor, to the count} auditor, the court, on application, 
would compel them to do so, by writ of mandamus, or the party suffering by their 
neglect could enter suit against them, as provided for in section 65. Such a 
debt is virtually a debt against the whole township, and must be assessed on the 
taxable property of the township, which would be a far better security than a 
mortgage on a school-house, even if it could be legally given for the purpose of 
securing the debt as proposed. 

QuES 69. — Are the inhabitants of an incorporated village, including the terri- 
tory annexed to the same for school purposes, which contains not less than three 
hundred inhabitants, and which, by the new school law, is created a separate 
school district, with a separate board of education, still at liberty to adopt the 
provisions of the *' act for the better regulation of schools in cities, towns,'* etc., 
passed February 21, 1849, and the acts amendatory thereto ? 

Ans. — They are thus authorized ; for the present school law *• must not be so 
construed as tj repeal, change, or modify in any respect," the several provisions 
of certain acts specified in the first clause of section 67. In the last clause of 
section 1, it is expressly declared that *' nothing in the new school law shall be so 
construed as to give to the township board of education jarisdi3tion over any ter- 
ritory in the township included within the limits of any city or incorporated vil- 
lage, which now is, or may hereajter be governed as to schools by any special or 
other act, specified in the sixty-seventh section of this act." The language, " or 
may hereajter be governed," etc., settles the question beyond doubt. 

One of the most important characteristics of our school system, is its flexibility. 
If the inhabitants of a city, town or incorporated village, containing a certain 
number of inhabitants, organized as to schools under any of the acts referred to 
in the fi-st part of section 67, prefer the provisions contained in sections 32, 33, 
34 and 35 of the general school law, section QQ authorizes the change, and points 
out the way in which it may be eflfected. On the o her hand, if the inhabitants 
of any city, town or village, desire to have their schools organized under any of 
the acts mentioned in the first part of section 67, it can be done in the manner 
prescribed in those acts respectively. Hence the inhabitants of no city, town or 
village in the state, can have any reason to complain of the general assembly of 
the state for not providing them with a school law adapted to their peculiir con- 
dition 

QuES. 71 — In the incorporated village of Greenfield, there is a good seminary 
budding, which, with a little remodeling, would accommodate all the scholars in 
the corporation. There is no public school house in which the common schools 
of the village can be kept during the coming winter. 

Under the above circumstances, would it be legal for the board of education to 
enter into arrangements with the principal of said seminary, for the instruction of 
all the scholars of the town, agreeing to pay him the public funds applicable to 
the payment of teachers, and authorize him to charge those sending to the school 
such tuition fees as would remunerate him and his assistants for the balance of 
the expense of instructing such scholars ? And has the board the power to pro- 



99 

vide for keeping the common schools in operation, after the state funds have been 
exhausted, by charging parents, pro rata, such tuition fees as would cover the 
balance of the expense ? 

Ans. — A negative answer must be returned to both of the above questions ; 
for the present school law contains no provisions authorizing local directors or 
boards of education to raise by rate bill, made out against those sending to 
school, in proportion to the number of children sent, to be ascertained by the 
teacher's list, as under the former school law, for the purpose of meeting any 
balance for the payment of teachers' wages, or other school expenses, incurred 
beyond the amount apportioned to a d'strict from the state school funds. 

In section 63, it is expressly provided that, ** for the purpose of affording the 
advantages of a free education to all the youth of this state, the state common 
school fund shall hereafter consist of such a sum," &c. In the last clause of 
section 24, it is declared to be the duty of "each township board to make the 
necessary provision for continuiog the schools in operation in their respective 
townships for at least seven months in each year ;" and this provision must be 
made in the manner prescribed in the first clause of section 22, where it is made 
the " duty of the board of education in each organized township of the state, 
annually to determine by estimate, as nearly as practicable, such additional 
amount as the board may think necessary, not exceeding two mills on the dollar 
valuation of the taxable property of the township," for the purpose of prolong- 
ing, after the state funds have been exhausted, the terms of the several sub-dis- 
trict or primary schools in the township. By the provisions contained in sections 
32, 33, 34 and 35, each city or incorporated village, (fee, is created a separate 
school district, with a board of education, authorized ** to perform the same duties, 
and to exercise all the powers which are by this act conferred upon township 
boards of education '* 

Whenever it shall become necessary or expedient, then, to prolong, after the 
state funds have been exhausted, the schools in any city or incorporated village, 
organized as schools, under the provisions of the general school law, the board 
of education of such city ur village should " make an estimate for that purpose, 
and certify the same to the county auditor,'* according to the provisions contained 
in section 22. 

QuEs. 73. — In a certain sub-district, seven colored youth were enumerated in 
October last. The county auditor apportioned the school money belonging to the 
township in which said sub-district is situated, to the several sub-districts in said 
township, in proportion to the number of youth in each, withoat distinguishing 
the amount distributed on account of said colored youth. There are no other 
colored youth in the township, consequently no school for colored children has 
been established by the township board of education. The local directors refuse 
to admit said co'ored children to the school in said sub-district ; but wish to ap- 
propriate the money derived from the state school tax on account of said colored 
youth, to the education of the white youth in said sub-district. Does the school 
law authorize such an appropriation to be made ? 

An 8. — It does not. The law requires the directors in each sub-district to 
enumerate separately the colored youth, in order that the amount of school funds 
applicable to the payment of teachers, and apportioned to any township on ac- 
count of the colored youth resident therein, may be expended for their instruc- 
tion, and for no other purpose. 

There is some ambiguity, it is true, in the language employed in section 31, 
owing, it is believed, to faulty punctuation. But from all the provisions contained 
in the law relative to colored youth, and from the statements of those who aided 
in drawing up those provisions, the following may be regarded as the fair and 
legitimate construction : 

1. The proper boards of education are required to establish, within their r© 



100 

spective jurisdictions, one or more separate schools for colored children, "when the 
whole number by enumeration exceeds thirty, and to continue said schools in 
operation until the moneys apportioned on account of said colored youth shall 
be exhausted, or until the average number in attendance shall be less than fifteen 
for any one month. In the latter case, it is made the duty of the board of edu- 
cation, or other school officers, to discontinue said school or schools for a period 
not exceeding six months at any one time. 

2. When the whole number by enumeration is less than thirty and more than 
fifteen, it is the duty of the board to provide a school for colored children, when- 
ever the funds applicable to that purpose shall be sufficient to keep the school in 
operation a reasonable length of time. 

3. If the number of colored children shall be less than fifteen, the directors 
shall reserve the money raised on the number of said colored children, and the 
money so reserved shall be appropriated for the education of such children, under 
the direction of the township board. 

4. The money so reserved for the education of colored children, may be used 
to procure for them private instruction ; or the teacher of the sub-district school 
may be employed to instruct them in an evening school, or at such other times as 
may be deemed expedient ; or they may be instructed during the vacation of the 
tchool for white youth ; or they may be admitted to the common school of the 
sub-district, if no objections are raised against such an arrangement. 

QuES. 75. — In a certain sub^district there are three diflferent denominations or 
organized churches who have no church building belonging to either of them, but 
have heretofore used the school-house, one Saturday and Sunday, each month. 
We now have a good new school-house, nearly completed. About two-thirds of 
the district are in favor of using the new house as the place of the regular meetings 
of their respective churches; the other third, who have church buildings of their 
own out of the district, oppose it. Those opposed contend that they should not 
be compelled by law to support any "religious denomination;" that they were 
compelled by law to build the new school-house for school purposes only^ and not 
for a church — for ** religious societies" whose doctrines they may not believe, or 
wish to support. 

The main point upon which we desire a public answer is this : 

Have the local directors authority to permit a religious society to use a school- 
house as regular place of worship ? 

Or has the township board of education power to permit a school-house in a 
sub district to be used regularly by any religious society as a place of worship for 
said society ? 

Should the township board or local directors permit such use of any school- 
house, in opposition to the wishes of a third, or any numhery of the citizens of a 
sub- district, what is the remedy of those who oppose it, or feel aggrieved in con- 
sequence ? 

Ans — By sec. 1 1 of the School Law, township boards of education are invested, 
in their corporate capacity, with the title, care and custody of all school -houses, 
school-house sites, school libraries, apparatus, or other property, belonging to the 
school districts, as now organized, or which may be hereafter organized, within 
the limits of their jurisdiction, with full power to control the same in such manner 
as they may think will best subserve the interest of the common schosls and the 
cause of education. 

By sec. 22, township boards of education are required, annually, to determine, 
by estimate, as nearly as practicable, the entire amount of money necessary to be 
expended in repairing, building, or furnishing school-houses, in procuring school- 
house sites, and for all school purposes other than the payment of teachers, to 
make known the same, by a certificate in wriiing, etc., to the auditor of the proper 



101 

county, who shall thereupon assess the entire amount of such estimate on all the 
taxable property in the township, etc. 

From the foregoing it is obvious that school-houses, etc., do not belong to the 
sub districts in which they are located, but are the property of the township, and 
their use raust, in accordance with the provisions of the school law, be subject to 
the control of the township boards of education ; and if used for any other than 
for school purposes, it must be with the assent and approbation of such boards, 
and of the iuhabitants of the sub-districts generally. 

The question, to what uses school-houses should be confined by boards of edu- 
cation, is one of great delicacy, and demands much consideration. The general 
principle in regard to questions of this nature is this : that it is the duty of boards 
of education to exercise such a general supervision over the care and management 
of the school-houses in the several sub-districts, as that the instruction of the pupils 
in the schools shall not be embarrassed by any use of the houses other than for 
school purposes, and that the school property of the township, the furniture, books, 
apparatus, papers, belonging to the schools, or the pupils, shall not be injured or 
destroyed. Any use of the school-houses in subordination to these restrictions, 
and not inconsistent with the main purposes for which they were designed, must 
be left to the discreet determination of the boards of education, who should pay 
due regard to the reasonable wishes of the local directors and inhabitants of the 
sub districts, remembering, meanwhile, that all the property of the township must, 
under the present school law, be taxed for building, furnishing, or repairing 
school-houses. 

School -houses, then, are now the property of the township, and subject to the 
control of the boards of education, within the limitations of the law. 

The purposes for which they were erected must be pursued, and nothing should 
be permitted to interfere with these purposes. But when these purposes are 
accomplished, there is neither reason nor law for prohibiting their application to 
any objt^ct of social or moral improvement which the inhabitants may sanction 
and desire. Upon this principle, and subject to the restrictions and limitations 
referred to, they may be used, out of school hours, and when not wanted for 
school purposes, for religious meetings, Sunday-schools, lectures, debating socie- 
ties, or any moral, literary or useful purpose, with the consent of the board of 
education, and with the approbation of the inhabitants and local directors of the 
sub-districts ; and in many of the country districts it is no doubt a very desirable 
privilege for the inhabitants to be permitted thus to use the school-house. 

QuES. 76 — Are children of less than half African blood entitled, as a matter of 
legal right, to the privilege of attending the common schools of this State? 

Ans. — To answer the above question, it is necessary to ascertain the judicial 
construction of the term "white," as used in the Constitution of this State. 

In the case of Gray v. The State of Ohio, found in Vol. IV. Ohio Reports, page 
354, it is held that persons nearer white than a mulatto, or half-blood, were enti- 
tled to the privileges of whites, 

Williams v. School Directors, etc.. Vol, — . Wright's Reports, page 678. In this 
case the question was, whether the children of a white mother and a father three- 
quarters white are white children, within the meaning of the school law. Affirm- 
ative opinion given. 

Thacker v. Hawk el al.. Vol XL Ohio Reports, page 376. In this case it was 
held that a person nearer white than a mulatto is a white person, within the mean- 
ing of the Constitution. 

Lane v. Baker et al. Vol XII. Ohio Reports, page 237. Held, that youth of 
negro, Indian and white blood, but of more than half white blood, are entitled to 
the benefit of the school fund. 

According to the decisions in the cases cited, an affirmative answer must be 
given to the question propounded. 



102 

QuES. 77. — The board of education of , township directed their clerk to 

draw orders on the township treasurer for the payment of their services as mem- 
bers of such board, which orders were paid by the treasurer. As soon as it was 
known that the present school law did not allow compensation to members of 
township boards of education for iheir services, some ot the members were willing 
to refund, but others were not. How shall the school funds thus improperly 
applied be recovered bark ? 

Ans, — "Where money is paid out under a mistake, or a misapprehension of the 
law, the party paying the same may recover it back in a suit as "^br money had, 
received,** etc. 

QuES. 79. — How shall the wages of a teacher employed in a sub-district com- 
posed of parts of four townships, be paid, and how shall the other expenses of such 
a school be defrayed ? 

Ans. — The locr^l directors should give him a certificate or certificates of the 
amount or fums due him from the treasurers of each of said townships These 
several sums can be easily ascertained ; for the enumeration of youth of school 
age, resident in each of the parts of a joint or fractional sub-district, is required 
to be separately taken, and reported to the clerk of the township in which such 
part is situated. 

The amount of money necessary to be expended in a fractional sub-district, for 
school purposes o'her than for the payment of teachers, should be estimated by 
the board of education having the control and management of such joint school. 
The respective boards ol the adjoining townships, so connected lor school pur- 
poses, should certify their share ot eaid amount to the auditor of their county, as 
a part of their annual estimates for school purposes, and draw orders on their 
respective township treasurers for said shares, in favor of the board of that town- 
ship in which such school is located. 

The teacher of a school in a frafctional sub-district should file his report with 
the clerk of the township in which the school-house is located, or whose board of 
education has the ( ontrol and management of said joint school, and obtain from 
said c]e)k a certificate oi the fact cf his having filed his report as required by law ; 
which ceriificate he should exhibit to the clerks of the other townships, when he 
applies to them for orders on the township treasurers for the respective sums cer- 
tified to be due to him by the local dueciors of said fractional sub-district. 

QuES. 80 — In sub-district No. — , in township, no annual meeting for the 

election of a local director was held on the second Monday ot April last, and the 
tovinship clerk filled the vacancy by appointment. Was the appointment legal? 

A^s. — It was not ; for it is provided m section 2 of the schooJ law that *'each 
local director shall c( ntinue in oflSce until his successor is elected and qua ified." 

Although the term of cflSce ot a local director m^y regularly expire on the 
seconn idonday of April, and no e ection be held, yet no such vacancy is thereby 
created as is pio\ided for in section 3 of the school law. The vacancies referred 
to in tliat section are those occasioned by the death, refusal to serve, removal out 
of the sub-district, resignation, or incapacity of such oflicer. 

"V^ henever the time lor holdirg the annual meeting in a sub-district, for the elec- 
tion of a local director, shall pass without such election being held, it is declared, 
in section 4, to be •'lawlul for any three qualified voters oi such sub-district to 
call a special meeting of the vote) s of such sub-district, for the purpose of electing 
such directors, on first giving five days' notice, in writing, of the time and place of 
holding .«^uch neeting," etc. 

It IS evident from the provisions contained in the second, third and fouilh sec- 
tioLS of tlie school law, that it was not the design of the Legislature to deprive 
the electors in a sub district oi the privilege of electing at least one local director 
annually. 

QuEs. 82. — Mr. J , a teacher in the common schools of the town of M , 



103 

has been prosecuted for inflicliDg corporal punishment on one of tlie scholars, who 
had repeatedly Iran'^gressed the rules of his school. It is not pretended that the 
punishment was disproportionate to the offense, or that the s/^holar received any 
personal injury, for the teacher stru-k bim only three blows with an oroinary rod. 

Whwt is the Jaw in regard to the right of a teacher to ii fllct corporal punishment 
on his scholars ? Are there any cases or decisions which settle this question ? 

Ans. — The question as to the right of a teacher to inflict corporal punishment 
upon scholars, has never come before the Supreme Court of this State. Teachers 
have been prosecuted in this as well as in other States for inflicting such punish- 
ment, and the question as to their legal right to do so has been frequently raised, 
but the decisions have very generally been in favor of such right. The teacher 
bfcing in loco parentis, and responsible for the government and proper discipline of 
his school, is clothed with the same power to punish scholars for refractory con- 
duct which is allowed by law to a parent in the government of his children. The 
decisions of all the cases of this kind, within the knowledge of the undersigned, 
have generally turned on the point whether the punishment was reasonable or not. 

In a case which came before John C. Spencer, one of the ablest jurists of the 
State of New York, while he was superintendent ex officio of common schools, he 
decided that ** the authority of the teacher to punish his scholars extends to acts 
done in the school-room or on the playground. The teacher of a school has, 
necessarily, the government of it, and he may prescribe the rules and principles 
on which such government will be conducted. The trustees should not interfere 
with the discipline of the school, except on complaint of misconduct on the part 
of the teacher ; and they should then mvariably sustain such teacher, unless his 
conduct has been grossly wrong.** 

A similar decision was made by John A. Dix, a distinguished statesman and 
jurist, while he was superintendent of common schools. He said : ** The teacher 
is responsible for maimaining good order, and he must be the judge of the degree 
and nature of the punishment required, where his authority is set at defiance. 
At the same time, he is liable to tbe party injured for any abuse of a prerogative 
which is wholly derived from custom.'* 

In Kent's Commentaries, seventh edition, vol. ii. page 212, note, the following 
decision may be found : **A schoolmaster, who stands in loco parentis^ naay, in 
proper ca^es, inflict moderate and reasonable chastisement." State v. Prendergrass. 

The subjoined cases are somewbati analogous. ''The master of a vessel may 
inflict moderate correction on his seamen, for sufficient cause ; yet if he exceeds 
the bounds of moderation, and is guilty of unnecessary severity, he will be liable 
for a tfespas"." 14 Johns Rep. 119. ''A master may justify the chastisement 
of his apprentice, servant, or scholir, if it is done with a proper instrument and 
in a proper mann^^r." 3 Sdlkeld, 47. 

In Wharton's American Criminal Law, page 464, the following principle is laid 
down: "It is admissible for the defendant to show that the alleged battery was 
merely the correcting of a child by its parent, the correcting of a servant or 
echo ar by liis master, or the punishment of the criuainal by a proper officer ; but 
if the parent or master chastising the child exceed the bound ot moderation, and 
inflict cruel and merciless punishment, he is a tre-p-isst^r, and liable to be punished 
by indictment. The law confides to schoolmas ers and teachers a discretionary 
power m the infliction of punishment upon pupils, and will nut hold them respon* 
sible criminally, unless the punishment be such as to occasion permanent injury 
to the chdd, or be inflicted merely to gratiiy their own evil passions." 

From the fore-omg opinions and decibions, the principle would seem to be pretty 
well settled, that the powev allowed by law to the parent over the person of his 
child is, by the act ot senoing the cJjild to school, delegated, for the time being, 
to the teacher ; and that the same circumstances which would justify a parent ia 



104 

resorting to corporal punishment, in order to subdue a disobedient child, will also 
justify a teacher in the use of the same means to control a refractory scholar. 

There has been, it is true, much diversity of opinion among eminent education- 
ists, and others, as to the necessity, expediency, or even utility, oi corporal pun- 
ishment as a means of school government ; but the right of the teacher thus to 
punij-h his scholars, for stubborn and continued resistance to his authority, has not 
been judicially denied. 

Qdes. 83 — In the sub-district No. — , in township, an individual holding 

a proper certification, was duly employed by the local directors of said sub-district 
to teach the school therein, for the term of four months. After teaching two 
months and a half, several of the inhabitants became quite dissatisfied with him 
and the school ; and the local directors informed him that they had determined to 
close the school, and that his services would no longer be required. But he in- 
sists d that he had a legal right to teach the school until the expiration of the 
time for which he had been engaged. The local directors then locked the school- 
house door, and thus prevented him from continuing the school. The local di- 
rectors were then notified that he was ready to resume and go on with the school 
whenever the door of the school-house should be opened. 

Out of this transaction, two questions have arisen, viz : 1. Whether an incom- 
petent or negligent teacner can legally be dismissed before the expiration of the 
term for which he was employed, without first procuring from the county board 
of examiners a revoca'ion of his certificate? 

2, Bow can a teacher cbtain redress when he has been improperly dismissed ? 

Ans.— By section 6 of the school law, it is made the duty of local directors to 
employ teachers, and to dismiss them, at any timet for such reabons as they may 
dee 00 svfficient. 

From this language it is quite obvious that, under proper circumstances, local 
directors may legally dismiss a teacher before the expiration of the tioje mentioned 
in their contract with him, and without first procuring a revocation of his certifi- 
cate. But in as much as it is declared in said section that such dismission must 
be for reasons deimed t^v-fficHrd, the genera) rule of law demands that such reasons 
must be good, valid and substantial, and not mere prejudices, or groundless dis- 
satisfaction. If the moral character of the teacher referred to, or his general 
management ol the school, were such as. in the estimation of all candid, judicious 
men, to render him an unfit person to take charge of a school, whether such un- 
fitness resulted Irom a want of learning, ability, or indubtry, the action of the 
local directors was clearly right, and the teacher cannot recover wages for the 
whole time embraced in his contract. In other words, if the teacher was incom- 
petent, the local directors were legally empowered to dismiss him, and to rescind 
the coniract made with him. Tbey employed him as a well qualified, fully com- 
petent teacher, and the moment he ceased to be such, there was a failure of the 
consid^ ration for the contract. * * * * * % 

When local directors are so unfortunate as to employ an incompetent teacher, 
the law vtsts in them a choice of remedies They may either dismiss him at 
once, or they rray bring the case before the county examiners, with a written 
specification of the complaints against him, and request a revocation of his certifi- 
cate, or, at least, an investigation of the case ; and the revocation, if made, would 
be tantamount to a dismission. But local directors are not required to take this 
circuitous and dilatory mode of getting rid of an incompetent teacher. In all 
cases, however, where there is any reasonable doubt as to the qualificntions and 
fitness of the teacher, it would be prefer&ble to let the examiners investigate the 
facts and decide the question of his competency. By the provisions contained in 
sees. 6 and 45 of ihe school law, two safeguards are thrown around the common 
schools, viz : 1st, the power of local directors to dismiss teachers who fail to sus- 
tain a good moral character, or to teach a good school ; 2d, the authority vested 



105 

in tbe county examiners to revoke tlie certificates of teachers for negligence or 

incompetency. 

QuE3. 84, — Among the sub- districts in township, some diversity prevails 

in regard to boarding teachers. In some of the sub-districts, teachers board 
themselves, and the expense of their board constitutes a part of their monthly or 
quarterly salaries ; but in other sub-districts the inhabitants who send their chil- 
dren to school, gratuitously board the teachers. The question has therefore arisen, 
whether any portion of the State school fund, or of that raised in the township for 
the purpose of prolonging the schools, can legally be expended in paying the 
board bills of teachers ? 

Ans. — If by the terms of the contract made with the teacher, the latter engages 
to teach the school for a given sum per month, or by the quarter, and board him- 
self, it is very evident that his salary or wages includes the cost of his board, and 
the State or township school fund can legally be applied in payment thereof. But 
if the teacher is boarded by the inhabitants of the sub-district, or, in other words, 
if he " boards round" as the practice is usually termed, his board must be regarded 
as a gratuity on the part of the inhabitants, and can not properly be considered as 
any part of his wages, to be paid for out of the State or township school fund, 
which is made applicable to the payment of teachers* wages only. 

While the undersigned would not desire to interfere with any arrangement be- 
tween teachers and local directors, made with a view to lengthen out the school 
funds and prolong the schools, yet it is proper to state, that there is no legal au- 
thority for making a contract with a teacher that he shall *• hoard rounds* because 
such a contract can not be enforced on the inhabitants of a sub-district. But as 
the people in some parts of the State are reluctant to relinquish a custom to which 
they have been for a long time habituated, there can be no serious objection to its 
continuance, provided all the inhabitants of the district agree to it, and provided 
also, the custom is uniform throughout all the sub-districts in the township. If, 
however, in some of the sub-districts of the township, the salaries of teachers in- 
elude the expense of their board, but not in others, great inequalities, in regard 
to the benefits derived from the township school tax, must inevitably result ; for 
the law requires such a tax to be assessed on all the taxable property in the town- 
ship. It would seem desirable, then, that the teachers in all the sub-districts 
should " board round,** or else all should board themselves. 

Where township boards of education can not induce the inhabitants to adopt 
the same mode of providing for the board of teachers, the inequalities arising from 
the want of uniformity in this respect may still be obviated as follows : Let the 
local directors contract with the teacher for a specific sum per month, or by the 
quarter, including, of course, the expense of board ; and then let a further agree- 
ment be made that if satisfactory board shall be furnished him by those who send 
their children to school, he will pay them whatever sum per week shall be agreed 
on. Unless, however, the practice of ** boarding round** can be adopted in all the 
sub- districts, it would be decidedly preferable to abandon it in all, as it is usually 
attended with many disadvantages to the schools, and much embarrassment and 
loss of time to the teacher. 

The teacher needs a steady home, that he may have opportunity for study, and 
that special preparation for each day*s work, which is indispensable to the highest 
success in teaching. The custom of ** boarding round,** had its origin in a desire 
to diminish the amount of the rate-bills which were formerly assessed on the in- 
habitants to defray the expenses of the school. But since the present school law 
has abolished the system of rate-bills, the custom of *' boarding round** may, with 
great propriety, be abolished also. 

QuES. 85 — It is claimed by some of the citizens of the village of , that a 

teacher has no legal authority to punish his scholars for disorderly, immoral, or 
improper acts done while on their way to or from school, or at noon. If such is 



106 

the law, how shall those be restrained who abuse their school mates, and use pro- 
fane and unbecoming language in their presence, before or after school, or at 
noon ? 

Ans — The legal right of the teacher to punish his scholai-s for disorderly acts 
done in the schoo'-room or on the play ground, before the opening of the school, 
after its close, during morning or afternoon recess, or at noon, has been tully 
rec:^gnized by the courts of this country. Bur. whether his autliority to pmish his 
schoars extends to immoral or disorderly condu;l elsewhere, is not so fully est-tb- 
lisht d By some it is contended that the legal right of a teacher to inflict corporal 
punishment upon a scholar in any case, is derived from the fact that he stands in 
"loco paremin,'' and therefore it can not be extended to acts done before this rela- 
tion has commen(3ed, or after it has terminated, without the express consent of the 
parent It is further contended that this delegation to the teacher of the power 
allowed by law to the parent over the person of bis child, does not take phce till 
the child has reached the school premises, and must end when he leaves for home. 
On the contrary, it is maintained by others, that the right of a teacher to hold his 
scholars responsible for improper conduct on their way to nnd from school, is fully 
sanctioned by usnge. Under all the circumstances, it is believed that the most 
prudent course for a teacher to take in a case like the one presented, would be to 
notifv the parent of the misconduct complained o*, and if his permissi m to f)unish 
the offending scholar can not be obtained, and the disorderly behavior be repeated, 
then to refer the matter to the board of education. 

There can be no doubt that boards of education possess the legal power to make 
and enforce such rules and regulations as in their judgment may be necessary for 
the best interests of the schools within their jurisdiction ; and it is their duty as 
well as th^ir right to cooperate with the teacher in the government of the school, 
and to aid him to the extent of their power and influence in the enfotcemeut of 
reasonable and proper rules and regulations, and to dismiss a scholar from the 
school whenever he uses at school, or on his way to or from the same, such rude, 
vulgar or profane language, and exhibits such a degree of moral depravity gener- 
ally, as to render h'S association with other scholars danger -us to the latter, or 
whenever he manifests such violent insubordination as to render the maintenance 
of discipline and order in the school impracticable or extremely difl&;ult. It is 
also the duty as well as the legal right of the local directors to see that the gneral 
character, us lu^ness, and prosperity of the school are not impaired by allowing 
those (o remain in it, whose whole influence, conduct, and bad character, have for- 
feited all claim to the enjoyment of its privileges 

QuES. 86 — Does the new school law empower the householders, the local di- 
rectors, or the town-hip board of education, to select and purchase sites for school 
houses in sub-districts ? 

Ans — It empowers township boards of education, unquestionably. This is 
evident from the provisions contained in the first, eleventh, fourteenth and fifteenth 
sections of the law. 

By the eighth section of the school act, passed March 7. 1838, the board of 
local directors and their successors in oflSce, in each school district, was declared 
to be a body politic and corporate in law, and, as such, capable of contracting and 
being contracted with, suing and being sued, pleading >ind being impleaded m any 
court of law or equity in this state, and of receiving any gift, grant, donation or 
devise, made to, or for the use of such district, and also of receiving a deed of 
conveyance or lease for any land whereon to erect a school house or houses, <fec. 
By sec 10 of the present school law, the same is declared in regard to township 
boards of education. By sec. 9 of the act of 1838, it was declared that the board 
of local directors should have power to divide their district into sub-districts, and 
select bites for school-houses and purchase the same. By the last clause of sec. 
14 of the present school act, the same power is conferred upon township boards 



107 

of education ; for it is there declared to be " tbe duty of the board to establish a 
school in each sub district of the township of such grade as the public good in 
their opinion may require ; and in the location of primary schools or schools of 
higher ffrade, the board shall have reference to population and neighborhood &c. 

Under ihe present law, then, local directors are not bodies corpora'e and politic, 
&C-, nor are they empowered to select or purchase sites ior school-houses, t xcept 
under the direction and subject to the rules and regulations prescribed by the 
township board of education. 

By re'erenc<^ to tbe school acts passed in 1821, 1825, 1829, 1831, 1834, 1835, 
1838, and in 1853, it will be seen that the mode of selecting school- house sices, 
as well as that oi deciding upon the erection and cost of school-houses, has under- 
gone frequent ch mges. Prior to the passage of the school act of 1838, either a 
majority or iwo-thirds, or three-fiitbs of the householders, or tax payers, or 
qualified voters of a school district, at the annual meeting, or at a special meeting 
called with ten, or twenty, or thirty days' notice, determined upon the location of 
the site, as well as upon the erection and cost of the school hou>e. By ihe school 
act of 1838, the power to select and purchase school-house sites was given to local 
directors ; but the right of deciding whether a school house should be erected or 
not, and what amount of money should be expended therefor, was still left with 
the householders of the several school districts. 

By the present school act, township boards of education are empowered to select 
and purchase school-house sites, to determine the cost of new scho )l-houses, to 
make estimates therefor, and to certify the same to their c* unty auditors. In 
short, the towtiship school sy^tem is analagous to the graded or union school 
system, which has been so generally adopted in cities and towns In boih causes 
the boards of education form, change, or alter the sub-districts, provide for the 
erection of school houses, and deieriuine the grades of the schools. The local 
directors, trustees, or special committees, attend lo the details of the busine^^s, and 
see that the orders of the board, and all the rules and regulations prescribed by 
them for the management and government of the schools, are carried into lull and 
efficient execudon. 

The undersigned would, however, impress upon boards of education the import- 
ance of exercising great care and mature deliber^tioii in the alteration of school 
districts, <he selectii n of sites for school-houses, and in determining the dimensions 
and plans for school -houses. 

Boards of education should also take the utmost pains to secure the general 
coopera ion of all the directors and inhabitants interesitd, and to avoid, as far as 
pos ible, hll those sources of contention and discord, which often prove so fatal to 
the prosperity, harmony and efficiency of the school. It is often better to submit, 
for a time, to many inconveniences, than to hazard the disastrous results which 
uniformly follow any general dissatisfaction with the alteration of school districts, 
tbe chflingitig of school house sites, and the tax imposed for the erection of new 
school -houes. A little patience and delay will gener^^Uy enable the good sense 
of the inhabitants ultimately to perceive what will redound to their best and true 
interests. 

QuEs. 87. — Sub district No. — , is composed of parts of three townships. The 
clerk of the township in which one of the parts of said sub-district is situated, 
neglected to make a separate return of the number of youth o" school age residing 
in such part, and the board of educaiion of said township have refused to pay any 
thing toward the support of the school in said fractional sab-district. What is 
the proper course to be pursued under the above circumstances? 

Aws — By section 16 of the school act, it is piovided that, when a sub district 
is composed of parts of two or more townships, the board of education of that 
township in which the school-house is situated, shall have the control and manage- 
ment of the £cbool ; and the boards of the adjoining townships so connected for 



108 

school purposes, shall contribute their share of expenses of every kind necessary 
to sustain said school. 

If any of the boards of the townships so connected for school purposes, refuse 
or neglect to furnish their share of such expenses, the board having the manage- 
ment of such school, may enter suit against the defaulting boards, as provided in 
section 65, or compel thgm by a writ of mandamus to perform the duties which 
the law enjoins upon them. 

The fact that the clerk of the township in which one of the parts of said frac- 
tional sub- district is situated, did not make a separate return of the number of 
youth of school age residing in said part, does not release the board of education 
of said township from its obligation to pay a part of the expenses incurred in sus- 
taining the school in said fractional sub-district. Where a township clerk has 
been thus negligent of his duty, the local directors should ascertain by the best 
evidence in their power, the number of youth residing in each part at the time the 
last enumeration was required to be taken, and communicate the result to the 
several boards of education of the townships from parts of which said fractional 
sub-district is formed. And the number of youth so ascertained to have been 
residing in each part at the time of takiog the last previous enumeration, will 
determine the share of expenses which each board is legally bound to contribute 
towards sustaining said school. 

The mode in which the affairs of a fractional sub-district are managed in those 
counties where township boards of education are well posted up in regard to their 
duties, is as follows, to wit : The board of the township in which the school-house 
is situated, annually determines by estimate, as nearly as practicable, the amount 
of money necessary to be expended in said fractional sub -district for fuel, repairs, 
prolonging the school after the State funds have been exhausted, and for all other 
purposes connected with the establishment or maintenance of said school. It also 
determines from the last enumeration of youth of school age, residing in each part, 
the share of expenses necessary to be incurred for the purposes above stated, which 
each board is required to provide according to the provisions contained in section 
16. The clerk of the board having the management of said school, then certifies 
said share's to the clerks of the boards of the other townships so connected for 
school purposes, and each clerk then returns to the county auditor for assessment, 
the share which section 16 requires the board of his township to provide. 

QuEs. 88. — The local directors of a sub-district in township, employed a 

person to teach their school for the term of four months, at thirty dollars per 
month, if he taught the school without the aid ot an assistant, but if an assistant 
became necessary, then he was to receive twenty- eight dollars per month. Near 
the end of the second month, an assistant was employed, who agreed to teach the 
remainder of the term for eight dollars. At the close of the school the local 
directors gave the principal teacher a certificate for ^120, with the understanding 
that he should pay the assistant ^8. But the clerk of the board of education 
refused to draw an order on the township treasurer for the $120, in favor of sajd 
principal teacher, on the ground that the assistant had obtained no certificate from 
the board of school examiners. The question submitted is, how shall said assist- 
ant obtain payment for his services as aforesaid ? 

Ans. — In section 45 of the school law, it is declared that no person shall be 
employed in any primary common school, unless such person shall have first 
obtained from the board of examiners, or any two of them, a certificate, etc. ; and 
in section 24, it is provided that the clerk of the board of education may draw 
orders on the township treasurer, for such amount as may have been certified to 
be due any teacher, by any two of the local directors of the sub district in which 
Buch teacher was employed, on his presenting a certificate of qualification, and 
depositing with said clerk a true copy thereof. 



109 

The provisions of the school law above referred to, are as applicable to the case 
of an assistant as to that of a principal teacher, and must be strictly complied with, 
before the clerk of a board of education can legally draw an order on the township 
treasurer for the whole amount certified to be due to both assistant and principal. 

In the case submitted, there seems to be no mode of providing funds to pay said 
assistant for his services in said school, unless it be done by a voluntary contribU' 
tion on the part of those who employed him, or who shared in the benefit of his 
services. 

QuES. 91. — The local directors of sub-district number — , in township, 

employed an individual to teach their school, who failed to obtain a certificate ; 
but at the request of the inhabitants of said district, who pledged him his wages, 
he continued to teach the school. At the expiration of his term, the local directors 
gave him a certificate o^ the amount due for his services, although he held no 
certificate of qualification ; but the clerk of the board of education declined giving 
him an order on the township treasurer. 

The case was subsequently brought before the board of education, who directed 
the clerk to issue an order in favor of the said local directors, to reimburse them 
for money advanced to pay said teacher ; but the clerk still refused, on the ground 
that he was not authorized to draw orders on the township treasurer, for the pay- 
ment of teachers who do not hold certificates of qualification, as required by the 
school law. Is it legal and proper for said clerk thus to refuse ? 

Ans. — In sees. 45 and 24 of the school law, it is declared that no person shall 
be employed as a teacher in any common school, unless such person shall have 
first obtained a proper certificate from the board of school examiners ; and that 
the clerk of the board of education is not legally empowered to draw orders on the 
township treasurer, in favor of teachers, for such amounts as may have been cer- 
tified to be due them, except on the presentation of their certificates of qualifica- 
tion No requirement of the law is plainer than that no school funds applicable 
to the payment of teachers* wages, shall be paid to teachers who have not been 
able to obtain the proper certificates. The law does not authorize boards of edu- 
cation to order the disbursement of school funds to uncertificated teachers, or to 
local directors who may have advanced their own money to pay such teachers. 
Boards of education have no more right to disregard the provisions of the school 
law in regard to the payment of school funds to teachers, than they have to nullify 
the entire law. Indeed, this is one of its most important and most sacred provi- 
sions. 

It has been decided over and over again, by the courts in other states, whose 
school laws contain provisions in relation to the employment of teachers similar to 
those in the school law of this state, that school funds which, by the terms of the 
law, are made applicable to the payment of teachers' wages only, cannot legally 
be paid to teachers who do not hold the proper certificates, and if so paid in vio- 
lation of law, the money may be recovered of the school officers thus illegally dis- 
bursing it. 

It has also been repeatedly decided that when local directors or trustees of 
school districts employ a person as teacher, who fails to obtain the requisite cer- 
tificate, they may discharge him, and he cannot recover for services thus rendered. 
If they engage him as a qualified teacher, the moment he ceases to be so, there is 
a failure of the consideration for the contract, But if they continue him in the 
school after notice that he has failed to sustain the requisite examination, or that 
his certificate had been annulled, it will be regarded as such a contiouance of the 
contract, that they will noi be allowed, at a subsequent period, to dispute it, and 
they will render themselves personally liable for the payment of teachers' wages. 

A teacher thus continued, after failing to obtain a proper certificate, if compen- 
sated at all for his services, must be paid by the local directors, or by the inhabi- 
tants of tho district at whose instance he was retained, and whose children 



110 

attended tbe school. Under such circumstances the school becomes a private 
school, and must be sustaioed as a private school, and no portii n of the public 
school fund can legally be applied to sustain it. 

QuEs. 93 — When the local directors of one of the sub-districts in a township, 
in order to secure the services of a teacher competent to give instruction in sev- 
eral of the higher branches, agree to pay him much higher wages than are paid 
to the teachers in the other sub districts, would the board of education be justifia- 
ble in apportioning to such district more than its prorata share ot the school fund 
raised in (-aid township for the purpose of prolonging its schools, in order that the 
school in said district may be continued in operation, during the year, for the term 
of seven months ? 

Ans. — A deviation from the rule of apportionment, prescribed in sec. 24, would 
not be proper under such circumstances. It is believed that such a deviation is 
warrantable only in cases where, owing to the peculiar features of tlie territory, 
sparseness of population, bad condition or want of roads, or other unavoidable 
obstacles, it becomes necessary to form or continue a sub district, containing quite 
a small number of youth of school age. To such a weak district more than its 
pro rata share of the township school fund may properly be apportioned in order 
that its scholars may erjoy the privilege of attending school for at least seven 
months in each year. It is unquestionably right and proper that township boards 
of education should make such liberal and reasonable provisions for keeping the 
schools under their charge in operation a proper length of time, as would enable 
the local directors to offer such compensation as would secure the services of well- 
qualified teachers. Boards of education should be frugal, but not pHrsimonious ; 
liberal, but not extravagant. It is not to be believed that any intelligent citizen 
will consider that sordidness to be economy which prefers that their children 
should be brought up in ignorance, or instructed in error, rather than contribute 
the mere trifle which will secure to them an education sound and accurate, at least 
as far as it goes. Nor it is necessary, under the present school law, that instruc- 
tion in our common schools should, in all cases, be restricted to spelling, reading, 
writing, arithmetic, geography and English grammar. By section 17, the power 
to determine the studies to be pursued in the several schools under their control 
is, wisely, vested in the boards of education. In the exercise of this power, they 
should use a sound discretion, but they should not cripple the efforts of local 
directors to elevate the character of their schools and foster the interests of edu- 
cation in all judicious ways. 

QuES. 94 — In the township of , the board of education recently formed a 

new sub district, and the question has arisen whether the local directors for said 
sub-district shall be appointed or elected. 

Ans — The school law does not specify in so many words the precise mode of 
supplying a new sub-district with a board of local directors. But inasmuch as the 
law confides to the management and control of the board of education for each 
organized township in the State the general interests of education iher^in, and 
confers upon them power to alter old sub districts and form new ones, and to pre- 
scribe such general rules and regulations as, in their judgment, will b- st subserve 
the interests of common schools and the cause of education, the power to perfect 
the organization of a new sub-district seems to follow as a sort of necessary con- 
sequence. 

When, therefore, a new sub district is formed, the board of education should 
cause to be posted up in three of the most public places of such sub-district, a 
notice in writing, describing such sub-district, and appointing a time and place for 
the first meeting of the qualified voters thereof, to elect, by ballot, three school 
directors. 

The erection of a new sub-district does not create such vacancies in the office 
of local directors as are required by section 3 to be filled by appoiutment. Besides, 



Ill 

it would be unjust towards the inhabitants of such new sub-district, to obtrude 
upon them, by appointment, the entire board of local directors. 

The mode of determiniog the respective terms of i.ffice of the directors of such 
new sub-disrict must be the same as prescribed in sectK-n 2 for the first election 
of local dirrctors in the old sub-districts, under the present school law. 

QuES. 98. — The person elected to the office of local director in a certain sub- 
district, being temporarily absent at the time of the election, and not returning so 
as to take the requisite oath of office within five days thereatter, the township 
clerk app -inted another person to fill s^id office. WdS the appointment legal ? 

Ans — It was not ; for no vacancy had occurred in said office, by denth, refusal 
or incapacity to serve, removal out of sub district, or resignation. A.iihoujh it is 
provid-d in section 3 that local directors shall, within five d^ys after th. ir election, 
tate the required oath ot office, yet such statutes are generally rei^arded as direct- 
oryy so far as rel ites to the time within which the offi ial oath is required to be 
taken No practice is more common than to elect to office persons temporarily 
absent from their place of residence at the time of election, and al!o*v tnem to 
qualify by taking the proper oath of office, provided th y return witbin ihe time 
expected, or within a reasonable time thereafter. It might operate very unfortu- 
nately for a sub-di.4rict to be deprived of the services of an effi -lent school officer, 
simply becauf^e he was prevented, by some casualty beyond his control, from 
taking his official oath within the time limited by law. 

QuES 99 — To what extent are township boards of education legally responsible 
for the performance of contracts negotiated and made by local directors, in relation 
to the purchasing of school-house sites, the building, furnishing or rep^siring of 
school houses, the employment of teachers, and the providing of fuel for schools ? 
Ans. — Boards of education are legally responsible for the performance of such 
contracts, so far as the same may have betn negotiated and made in obedience to 
the rules and regu'ations prescribed by said boards, or so far as the consent or 
order of said boards for making such contracts may have been obtained. 

In contracting for the purchase of a school-house site, or tor building and fur- 
nishing a new school-house, local directors can not exceed, without rendering 
themselves personally liable, the sum specially estimated and set apart by said 
boards for those specific objects in each particular year and for each particular 
sub-district, unless they first procure the consent or authority of said bo«>.rGS of 
education 

In making contracts for providing fuel, making ordinary repairs, and all other 
provisions necessary for the convenience and prosperity of their i:chool, local 
directors may, in the absence of any general rules on the subject, use as much of 
the money applicable to such purposes as in any one "year shall not exceed the 
amount distributable to their sub-district in proportion to the enumeration of 
scholars resident therein. But should they exceed that sum without first obtain- 
ing an order therefor from the township board of education, they would render 
themselves personally responsible for such excess, unless it could be made to 
appear that the board had palpably neglected to make, as the school law requires, 
the necesj-ary provisions for such indispensable school expenses, and had been 
contumacious in withholding their assent to the reasonable request of said local 
directors. 

In making contracts with teachers, local directors should not, as a general rule, 
incur expenses beyond their proportion of the school fund derived from the State, 
and that raised in the township for the purpose of prolongii g the schools therein 
after the State fund had been exhausted. 

The school law imposes upon boards of education the duty of making the neces- 
sary provi^ions for contnuing the schools in operation in their respective townships 
for at least seven months in each year, and requires them annually to determine 
by estimate, as nearly as practicable, the amount of money necessary to be ex- 



112 

pended for that purpose. Local directors ought, therefore, to pay due regard to 
such estimates, in negotiating the contracts which the law authorizes them to 
make. Although the estimates of the board prove inadequate to secure the ob« 
jects designed, yet local directors possess no legal power to supply the deficiency. 

When boards of education utterly neglect to perform any duty which the law 
enjoins upon them, local directors may apply to the proper court for a writ of 
mandamus to compel its performance. 

Boards of education ought to make, in the record of their proceedings, separate 
entries of the several amounts of money estimated by them for building and fur- 
nishing school-houses, for providing fuel and making repairs, and for prolonging 
schools in the several sub- districts in their respective townships, to the end that 
local dii ectors may know what sums they are authorized to expend for each of 
the above purposes. 

QuES. 100. — When an incorporated village has become a ** separate school diS' 
trict" by the operation of section 32 of the school law, is it lawful for the board 
of education of such village to build a school-house containing rooms sufficient for 
the accommodation of all the children or scholars of the village, and appropriate 
one of said rooms to the use of a high school department, without first taking the 
votes of the electors, as required in sec. 21 in the case of a township high school ? 

Ans — It is lawful ; for the framers of the law intended to confer upon boards 
of education in such cities and villages as should be created ** separate school dis- 
tricts'* a general power to ** establish schools of diflferent grades," whether such 
schools or grades were to occupy a single or several buildings It was not con- 
templated that a public meeting of the qualified voters should be first called to 
decide the matter. The power of the board to erect one or more school-houses, 
and to establish schools of one or more grades, is discretionary, and may be exer- 
cised without regard to other considerations than the public good. 

The language of sections 32, 33 and 35 is too plain to be misunderstood. The 
city or village board of education consists of three members, and the city or village 
is created a ''separate school district^'' which the board may, if they deem it expe- 
dient, divide into sub- districts ; but if they do so, it does not afifect the board or 
its jurisdiction, nor does it give to the sub districts the right lo elect local directors 
as in the case of township sub-districts. Yet the city or village board possess the 
**same powers'* as township boards, ** so far as applicable,** and the additional 
discretionary power given in sec 33, to divide the city or village into sub-districts 
or not, and to establish schools of different grades, as the public good may seem 
to require. 

QuES 102. — ^When a school examiner vacates his office by resignation, refusal 
to serve, removal out of the country, or otherwise, should the vacancy be filled by 
appointment for the full term of two years, or only for the unexpired term of the 
examiner who thus vacates his office ? 

Ans. — The appointment should evidently be made for the full term of two years. 

This is obvious from the language employed in the last clause of sec. 44 of the 

school act : ** All vacancies in said board, which may thereafter occur, whether 

/rom expiration of the term ofcffice^ refusal to serve, or otherwise, shall be filled by 

like appointment by said judge." 

It requires no argument to show that vacancies resulting from expiration of the 
term ot office, should be filled by appointment for the lull term of two years. 
But the two classes of vacancies are required to be filled by like appointment by 
said judge. The term ''like** must either be construed as referring to the length 
of lime which the school examiners, first appointed under the present school law, 
■were entitled to hold iheir office, or to the fact that appointments to fill vacancies 
resulting from any of ibe causes stated in sec. 44, are required to be made for the 
same length of time, viz : two years. 

That liie loregoing is a proper interpretation of sec. 44, will appear the more 



113 

manifest by observing the language employed on the subject of vacancies, in sec. 
3 : ** In case a vacancy shall occur in the office of director, by death, resignation, 
refusal to serve, or otherwise, it shal] be the duty of the township clerk to till such 
vacancy by appointnoent for the unexpired term.*' In this section of the law, vacan- 
cies which are occassioned by expiration of the term of ofiSce are not coupled with 
those resulting from other causes, and for the obvious reason that the former are 
required to be filled by an election, as provided in sees. 2 and 4. When, there- 
fore, the term of office of a local director has expired, the vacancy resulting there- 
from can not be filled by an appointment. 

By sec. 2, it is provided that each director shall continue in office until his 
successor is elected and qualified. 

The general rule on this subject is, that where the law does not expressly de- 
clare that the appointnaent shall be for the unexpired termy and where it does not 
provide that one part of the board of officers shall be elected, and another go out 
of office at regular and stated intervals, all vacancies shall be filled by appoint- 
ments for the iull term. 

QuES. 103. — The board of education of Delhi township, in Hamilton county, 
overlooking the requirement contained in the first clause of sec. 22 of the general 
school law, did not ** determine, by estimate, the entire amount of money neces- 
sary to be expended in said township," for purchasing or leasing schoul-house 
sites, building, furnishing and repairing school-houses, renting school rooms, pro- 
viding fuel, and making all the provisions necessary for the convenience and 
prosperity of the schools, other than the payment of teachers ; but they directed 
the township clerk to draw orders on the school funds derived from the sale of 
section 16 of said township, to defray the expenses incurred for the above purpo- 
ses. 

The reason assigned in justification of the application of a portion of said funds 
to other purposes than the payment of teachers, was, that said township annually 
derived from the State school tax, and the interest accruing from the sale of its 
section sixteen, a larger amount of money than was needed for the payment of 
teachers. 

The questions submitted are, can the township treasurer legally pay such orders, 
and can the county auditor legally allow them in his annual settlement with said 
treasurer ? 

An8. — To both of the above questions a negative answer must be given. For 
this, many reasons may be assigned, among which are the following, viz : 

1. The legislature of Ohio nas always regarded the annual income of the 
" irreducible common school J und** as applicable to the payment of teachers only. 

2. The earliest general school law on this subject, required *♦ that all moneys 
arising from the rents or sales of school lands, should be divided among the sev- 
eral school districts, or parts of school districts, accordi .g to the number of youth 
of school age in each district, or part of district, " See ** act to incorporate the 
original surveyed townships," passed March 14, 1831. Such a per capiti distri- 
bution is of itself evidence that such moneys constitute strictly a tuition fund for 
the children or youth residing in said districts, or parts of districts. 

3. As a third reason for regarding the annual income arising from the rents or 
sale of section sixteen as applicable to the payment of teachv-rs only, may be as- 
signed the fact, that all of the general school laws ot this State have contained a 
section authorizing a specific tax to raise the amount of money necessary to be 
expended for school purposes other than for the payment of teachers, and the 
language of such sections, like that in sec. 22 of the present school law, is gener- 
ally imperative. ** It shall be the duty of the board of education annually to 
determine by estimates," etc. See general school act, passed March 10, 1831. 
Secvions 13, 31, and 33. 

8 



114 

^ 4. In sec. 31 of ihe general school act of 1831, passed only eight days after 
the " act to establish a Jumd for the svpport of common schoolsy** which fund in- 
cluded " the DQoneys arising from the sale of any lands which heretofore have 
been or hereafter may be, appropriated by congress for the support of schools in 
any original surveyed township, or ether district of country in this State," the 
following language may be found, viz : *' All the money collected on the tax 
duplicate of any township for the use of schools, shall be apportioned to the sev- 
eral districts and parts of districts in such township ; all the money received from 
the State treasury on account of interest on the money arising from the sale cf 
section sixteen, or other land in lieu thereof, shall be apportioned to the several 
districts and parts of districts in the original surveyed township or fractional town- 
ship to which such land belonged ; and all the money for the use of schools in 
the county, shall, if its appropriation is not otherwise directed by law, be appor- 
tioned to the districts in the county, and all such apportionments shall be made 
to the several districts and parts of districts in proportion to the number of youth 
residing therein." 

In sec. 33 of the same act it was declared, " That all the money which shall 
come into the treasury of any school district for the use of schools therein, shall 
be appropriated, on the order of the directors, to the payment of the teachers of schools 
in such districts, and to no other purpose** 

From these provisions, it is quite obvious that the legisla'ture designed that all 
the moneys derived from a township or county school tax, as well as from the 
annual interest accruing from the sale of section sixteen, should be applied in 
payment of teachers' wages only. 

In sec. 24 of the present school act it is provided, *' That all school funds made 
applicable to the payment of teachers only, shall be distributed to the several 
sub districts and fractional parts thereof in the township, in proportion to the 
enumeration of scholars," In the same section it is also declared that, *' So 
much of the school moneys coming into the hands of the treasurer as may be de- 
rived from the State tax, or from any township tax levied for the continuation of 
schools after the State fund has been exhausted, shall be applicable to the payment 
of teachers only ; and such school funds as arise from the sale or rents of section 
sixteen, or other lands in lieu thereof, shall be distributed to the localities to which 
such funds belong." Then follows the language, " all other school funds of the 
township, etc , shall be applied under the direction of the board, in repairing, 
building or furnishing school-houses," etc., etc. The word ** other** in the above 
quotation, must be interpreted as meaning all school funds other than those derived 
jrom the State school tax, the township tax levied for the continuation of schools, 
and. from the sale or rents of section sixteen 

6. Another argument in favor of this construction of the school law, and going 
to show that the legislature never intended that any portion of the annual income 
of the irreducible school trust fund should be applied to any other purpose than the 
payment of teachers, except when authorized by a special enactment, may be 
drawn from the fact that such special enactments have sometimes been called for 
and granted, one of which was passed Feb. 28, 1846, on the application of the 
directors of district No. 1, in said township of Dtlhi. 

The preamble and act read as follows, to wit : 

*« Whereas, it is represented to the general assembly that -the school funds of 
school district No. 1, in Delhi township, Hamilton county, are more than sufficient 
to support a school therein the year round ; therefore. 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Ohio, that the directors of school 
district No. 1, in Delhi township, Hamilton county, be and the} are hereby author- 
ized to appropriate so much as may be necessary for that purpose, any surplus of 
school funds of said school district, to the building, or enlargement of the school 
' building of said school district, whenever a majority of the legal voters in said 



115 

scbool district shall give tlieir assent in favor of such appropriation, by petition or 
otherwise." 

In conclusion, then, it is maintained that the funds accruing from the sale or 
rents of section sixteen can legally b^ app'ied only in payment of teachers, because 
in sec. 8 of the ** act to incorporate the original surveyed townships," passed 
March 14, 1831, it is made the duty of the trustees of each surveyed township or 
fractional township, to *' apply all the rents and profits arising from section num- 
bered sixteen, to the special purpose for which it was intended " And in sec. 3 
of the *• act to establish a fund for the support of common schools," passed March 
2, 1831, ** the faith of the State of Ohio is pledged for the annual payment of the 
interest arising on the sale of section f>ixteen to the person who, and in the manner 
■which, shall he pointed out hy law ; which said interest shall be appropriated and 
expended for the support and maintenance of common schools within the township 
or other district of country entitled to the same." In sec. 33 of the school act 
passed March 10, 1831, the law did point out the manner in which said interest 
should be expended, to wit : in payment of teachers' wages, and the mode of 
thus using said fund has never been changed by any legislative enactment, except 
in a few special cases. 

It is not deemed necessary in this connection to specify in detail the particular 
manner in which the schools of Delhi township might be graded so as to afford an 
opportunity for the judicious and legal expenditure of all the school funds annu- 
ally derived from the State school tax and from the sale of their section sixteen ; 
but the opinion is unhesitatingly expressed, that no ][)ortion of said funds can 
legally be expended in the manner which the board of education of said township 
propose, until authorized by a special enactment of the legislature. 

QuES. 104 — The board of school examiners of county, held an adjourned 

meeting on the first Monday of April last ; and on the same day, and at the same 
place, the annual township election was held in the court-house. The schools of 
the town being in session on that day, it became necessary for said board of ex- 
aminers to rent a room for the purpose of holding said examination, as the free 
use of no suitable room could be procured. Can the county auditor legally issue 
his warrant on the county treasurer for the payment of said rent ? In other 
words, does the law authorize county auditors to furnish rooms and fuel, as well 
as bo( ks and stationery, for the purpose of accommodating such examinations ? 

Ans. — In answering the foregoing question, it is proper to state, that it has not 
been customary in the counties of this State, or in other States, to rent rooms for 
the accommodation of meetings held for the examination of teachers. The reason 
is, no doubt, that boards of school examiners have generally been able to procure 
suitable rooms without the payment of rent. The use of court-houses, school- 
houses, churches, or public halls, has generally been freely tendered to them for 
this important object. 

Bat inasmuch as it is made the '* duty of the examiners to fix upon the time of 
holding meetings for the examination of teachers, in such place in their respective 
counties as will, in their opinion, best accommodate the greatest number of candi- 
dates for examination," it would seem reasonable and proper, when suitable 
rooms could not be procured without payment of rent, that county auditors should 
authorize the examiners to hire rooms, and should issue warrants for the payment 
of the expenses necessarily incurred in procuring such rooms, providing stationery, 
futl, eic. 

QuEs 105. — Can township boards of education legally authorize the transfer of 
scholars to the school of an incorporated village, or "separate school district," at 
any other than their regular meetings? 

Ans. — It is believed that such transfers may legally be made at special meet- 
ings, when the better accommodation of the scholars plainly demands it. 

In the last clause of section 32 of the school law, it is stated that transfers of 
territory not within the limits of such corporation may be made to or from such 



116 

separate or special school districts, by agreement between the board of education 
of the township in which such village with the territory annexed may be situated, 
and the board of education of such village, without requiring that such agreement 
shall be made at the regular meetings only of said boards. 

In the last clause of section 33 it is declared to be lawful for the town&hip board 
of education of any township in which such incorporated village is situated, by and 
with the consent of the village board, to transfer thereto, for educational purposes, 
the scholars of such parts of their townthip as lie adjacent thereto, and that all 
such transfers shall be controlled on the same principles as in case of like transfers 
for the convenience of schools where two or more townships adjoin, as provided 
in section 16 of the school act. And in section 16 it is made the duty of the 
respective boards to transfer persons for educational purposes whenever it shall 
appear that they are so situated as to be heiter accommodated at the school of an 
adjoining township. In neither of these cases is it required that such transfer 
shall be authorized or assented to by said boards of education at their regular 
meetings only. 

These cases seem to constitute an exception to the rule laid down in seciion 14 
for the general re-distiicting of townships. By this section it is made the duty of 
the board to prepare, or cause to be prepared, a map of their township as often as 
they deem necessary, and to designate thereon the sub -districts of the township, 
and to change or alter the same, viz., the map and the sub-districts, at any regu- 
lar session. This provision evidently relates to the general re- districting of the 
township, the abolition or consolidation of sub-districts, the creation of new sub- 
districts, or the essential aHeration of old ones ; but it does not control the pro- 
visions contained in sections 16, 32 and 33, in relation to transfers of scholars from 
one township to another, or to the school of a separate or special school district. 

QuEs. 106. — A youth, now fourteen years of age, and an orphan, resided since 
the death of his parents with his sister in Sandusky, until a year ago, when he 
visited his brothers in Indiana and Illinois. Having, however, always regarded 
his home as at his sister's, he returned to this State, and when she moved to the 
village of — — he went with her, and was permitted to attend the common school 
of said village. Not long since, he went to live with a gentleman, a resident of 
said village, expecting to remain with him for an indefinite period of time, perhaps 
until he should be twenty-one years old, unless prevented by some misunderstand- 
ing, not then apprehended. 

The question has been raised by the board of education, as to the right of said 
youth to attend the union school of said village, as a resident scholar. Does the 
school law give him that light? 

Ans. — Perhaps the besi way to settle the above question is to inquire whether 
said youth might legally have been included in the annual enumeration of the 
youth of said village, had the law required such enumeration to be taken at the 
very time said question arose. In section 8 of the present school law it is declared 
that such enumeration shall include all those who are residents within the school 
district, and not tem^oia.fily there. The youth in question was not temporarily in 
said village, for he came there, as it would seem, with the intention of remaining^ 
and that constituted him in law a resident. 

Moreover, in section 63 it is declared that the State school fund is raised for the 
express purpose of affording the advantages of a free education to all the youth of 
this JStaie; and there can be no doubt that the boy referred to is one of said youth, 
and, as such, is entitled to the privilege of attending some one of the common 
schools of the State ; and if some one, it must be that of the village already 
referred to. 

The question as to what particular school the youth of school age have a right 
to attend, is well settled in the following cases, viz. : 

1. They are entitled to the privilege of attending the school in the district where 
their parents, guardians, or emplojers reside, although such residence be tempo- 



117 

rary, provided they actually compose a part of the family of such parents, guard- 
ians, or employer. 

2. If they are hired to labor or service in the family of an iohabitJint of the 
district, and are regarded and treated as part of his family , and not as mere tem- 
porary boarders J they are eniitled to participate in the privileges of the district 
school. 

3. If they have neither parents nor guardians, they may attend the school of 
the district in which the families reside with whom they elect to make their homes. 
In short, they may attend the school of the district where they are temporarily 
residiDg, provided they could not legally be enumerated in any other distiict. 

But children coming into a district and hoarding, for the purpose of attending 
school therein, are not entitled to that privilege, unless the school directors see fit 
to grant it, 

If a person, however, who is not an inhabitant of some other district, resides 
temporarily in a given district, all the children of school age belonging to his 
family may attend the school of the district in which he thus temporarily resides. 

QuES. 108 — Has a teacher the legal right to open his school with prayer ? 

Ans — On this extremely dehcate and important matter I have not been able to 
find any decision of the Supreme Court of this State. But in the Slate of New 
York ic has been decided, under a school law similar to that of this State, that 
"teachers may open and close their schools with prayer and the reading of the 
scriptures, provided they take care to avoid all controverted points or sectarian 
dogmas." 

In some States ifc has been held that teachers cannot claim this right as a matter 
of course, but that school officers may, in the exercise of a sound discretion, per- 
mit them to open and close their schools with prayer, provided the inhabitants of 
the district do not seriously object, and provided also that the harmony of the 
district would not seriously be disturbed thereby. 

If the teacher in his prayers avoids all sectarian dogmas, and does not im- 
properly consume time, I do not see why he may not be permitted to do what he 
believes to be his conscientious duty for the welfare of those committed to his 
charge, by appropriately invoking the blessings of God upon his important and 
respoosible labors, as by properly addressing or lecturing his pupils upon the 
importance of a strict adherence to the principles of truth, justice and morality. 

Bat the teacher should not insist on this privilege, nor should the local directors 
grant it, in cases where it would create dissatisfaction in the district, or induce a 
portion of the inhabitants to withdraw their children from school, because of sin- 
cere conscientious scruples on this subject. 

The question as to the right of opening a school with prayer is one of great 
delicacy, and should be treated accordingly. In a matter of such grave character, 
involving the interests of religion, the freedom of conscience, and a sense of duty, 
school officers, teachers, and the inhabitants generally, should exercise great for- 
bearance and a spirit of conciliation. John C. Spencer, one of the most distin- 
guished jurists in the State of New York, while acting as superintendent of common 
schools in that State, decided a similar question as follows, viz. : •* Prayers can 
not form any part of the school exercises, or be regulated by the school discipline. 
If had at all, they should be had before the usual hour of commencing school in 
the morning, and after the hour of closing school in the afternoon. If any parents 
are desirous of habituating their children to the practice of thanking their Creator 
for his protection during the night, and invoking his blessings on the labors of the 
day, they hsive a right to place them under the charge of the teacher for that 
purpose. But neither they nor the teacher have any authority to compel the 
children of other parents, who object to the practice, from dislike of the individual 
or his creed, or from any other cause, to unite in such prayers. 

"And, on the other hand, the latter have no right to obstruct the former in the 



118 

discharge of what they deem a sacred duty. Both parties have rights ; and it is 
only by a mutual and reciprocal regard by each of the rights of the other, that 
peace can be maintained, or a school flourish. The teacher may assemble in his 
school-room, before nine o'clock, the children of those parents who desire him to 
conduct religious exercises for them ; and the childien of those who object to the 
practice will be allowed to retire or absent themselves from the room. If they 
persist in remaining there, they must conduct with the decorum and propriety 
becf^ming the occasion. If they do not so conduct, they may be dealt with as 
intruders." 

In the same State, it was held by Gen. John A. Dix, an eminent statesman and 
jurist, that "the teacher of a school may open it wiih prajer, provided he does 
not encroach on the hours allotted for mstiuciion, and provided the attendance of 
the scholars is not exacted as a matter of school discipline.** 

In a case which came before Henry S. Randall, superintendent, and which set 
forth that in a certain common school ** the religion and faith of Catholic children 
were interfered with by their being compelled to 'join in prayers,' and *to read 
and commit' portions of a version of the Bible which the Catholic church disap- 
proves," he said : "In theory, I have never been able to doubi that intellectual 
and religious instruction should go hand in hand. To divorce them entirely, and 
to bestow attention on the former only, is to draw forth and add to the powers of 
the mind, without giving any moral helm to guide it ; in other words, it is to 
increase the capacity without diminishing the propensity to do evil, 'io banish 
religious education from the schools is, in a multitude of instances, to consign it 
to the care of the vicious, the ignorant, the careless, or those who feel that they 
have no time to attend to it. The placing of it in its natural connection with 
intellectual education in the school-room, has met, however, in our country, with 
serious practical obstacles. 

** The government, not relying on the ability or willingness of every part of the 
state to maintain efficient schools for the education of the young, by voluntary con- 
tributions, and recognizing the imperative necessity of universal education for the 
maintenance of our civil and political institutions, organized a general common school 
system, and made provibions to aid those sending to school, in tustainrng it by the 
payment of a large sum annually from the treasury. To prevent this money 
from being misapplied, it prescribed the conditions on which it thall be received 
and expended ; and it created a special state officer, with administrative and judi- 
cial powers, to carry out and enforce the system. The common schools were 
thus clearly made a government institution. To introduce into them, or permit 
to be introduced into them, a course of religious instruction conformable to the 
views of any religious denomination, would be tantamount to the adoption of a 
government religion — a step contrary to the constitution, and equally at variance 
with the policy of a free government and the wishes of the people. To form for 
the schools a course of instruction which could bear the name of a religious one, 
and which would meet the views of all, was manifestly impossible. To give 
every sect a ^ro rata share of the school moneys to enable it lo support its own 
schools, and teach its own system of religious faith in them, would be to divide 
into a dozen or more schools the childten within the territory convenient for at- 
tendance on a single school, and in which the support of all the inhabitants is 
frequently scarcely adequate, with the aid cf the public moneys, to sustain a single 
efficient school. Indeed, under this arrangement, a single indigent family would 
often be required to support its own school, to go without any, or to violate its 
conscience by joining with others in one in which a religious system was taught 
wholly at variance with its own. There are other reasons which have gone to 
convince the public mind of the impracticability of carrying out trucb a plan so 
as to attain ihe object sought — the education of all the people — which do not re- 
quire enumeration. 



119 

**Ia view of the above facts, the position was early, distioctly, and almost 
universally taken by our statesmen, legislators and pronainent friends of educa- 
tion — men of the warmest re'igious zeal, and belonging to every religious sect 
— that the instruction in our public schools should be limited to that ordinarily 
included under the head of intellectual culture, and to the inculcation of those 
general principles of morality in which all sects, and good men belonging to no 
sect, can equally agree. 

•' We have seen that even prayer— that morning and evening duty which man 
owes to his Creator — which even the pagan and savage do not withhold from the 
gods of their blinded devotion — which, conducted in any proper spirit, is no 
more sectarian than that homage which constantly goes up from all nature, 
animate and inanimate, to the bountiful Giver of all things — h\s been decided by 
two eminent jurists as inadmissable as a school exercise within the school hours, 
when seriously and conscientiously objected to by any portion of the inhabitants 
of a school district. 

" This decision has been acquiesced in without a murmur, by the whole reli- 
gious public The intelligent religious public have felt that there was no middle 
tenable ground between religious instruction — strictly so called — in our common 
schools, and the broadest toleration. 

" Compelled by circumstances to adopt the latter position, they have embraced 
it in Its most comprehensive import, and have nerved themselves to the task of 
supplying a lamentable omission in the public schools, by increased assiduity to 
the spiritual wants of their offspring in the family circle, in the Sunday school, 
and in the church. In our crowded cities, where poverty sinks to its lowest ebb, 
and vice puts on its most unmitigated forms, where multitudes of children would 
receive no religious instruciion from or through the instrumentality of their 
parents, voluntary church and individual organizations are putting forth their 
endeavors to supply such instruction. Many, doubtless, are not reached by these 
efforts ; nor would they be reached if religion was taught in the common schools, 
for the children of the extremely poor and the vicious oftentimes could not or 
would not attend them.'* 

Believing that the foregoing opinions and decisions may now be regarded as 
the well settled rule in the premises, and that they ara founded on prmciples of 
equity, and in accordance with that spirit of entire religious toleration which 
characterizes our constitution and laws, and which ought to characterize every 
institution founded by the state, I feel no inclination to gainsay them. 

Let it be distinctly understood, however, that if no objections are raised against 
religious exercises in school, if the exercises are of reasonable length, and if the 
teacher takes care to avoid the discussion of all controverted points, or sectarian 
dogmas, he may conduct those exercises during school hours. 

QuES. 10 . — When the board of education of a township in which the school- 
house of a joint sub-district is situated, has made an estimate of the expenses of 
every kind necessary to sustain the school in such sub-district, and the board of 
the adjoining township refuses or neglects to supply its share of such expenses, 
what is the remedy ? 

Ans. — The board of education, having the control and management of the 
school, may apply to the supreme or district court for a writ of mandamus, to 
compel the delinquent board to perform the duty which is required by section 16 
of the school law. 

The language of said section is too obvious to be misunderstood, and the duty 
enjoined too manifest to be mistaken. ** And the boRrd of the adjoining tovrnship 
or townships, so connected for school purposes, shall each make the proper esti- 
mates of their share of expenses, of every kind necessary to sustain said school, 
and certify the same to the auditor of the proper county, as part of their annual 
estimates for school purposes,** etc. 



120 

If, however, the board having the control and management of said school, should 
prefer not to go to law on the subject, they may regard said neglect or refusal, on 
the part of ihe oiher board, as tantamount to an agreement to have said joint 
tub-district dissolved, and may proceed to incorporate their part of it with other 
sub- districts in their town ship, and thus avoid any further trouble on the subject 

QuES. 1 10. — When the qualified voters of a sub-district fail to meet and elect 
a local director, at the time designated for the annual meeting, and the director 
whose term of office has expired, refuses " to continue in office until his succes- 
sor is elected and qualified," what is to be done ? 

Ans. — Any three of the qualified voters of such sub-district, may call a special 
meeiing of the voters of such sub district, for the purpose of electing a director, 
as provided in section 4 of the school law; and if such special meeting be not 
called wi hin a reasonable time, the township clerk may appoint a person to act 
as local director, until such special meeting be called and a local director be duly 
elected and qualified. 

QuEs. 112. — Does the school law of this state confer upon colored youth the 
privilege of enterirg, as a matter of legal right, the common schools of the city, 
village or township in which they reside ? In case the law does not allow them 
this privilege, how shall provision be made for their education when there are 
only two or three such youth in a school district ? 

Aks. — Under the general school law of this State, colored youth are not allowed 
to enter, as a matter of right, the schools provided for white youth. But they are 
entitled to 9^ per capita share of all school funds made applicable to the pajment of 
teachers ; and it is the duty of the several boards of education to see that said 
share of the school funds is properly expended for the education of said colored 
youth, and for no other purpose. 

By section 31 of the school law, the board of education in each township, city 
and incorporated village in the State, is required to establish within its respective 
jurisdiction one or more schools for colored children, whenever the whole number 
exceeds thirty by enumeration. Whenever the number does not exceed thirty, 
then it is the duty of said board to reserve the money apportioned to any township, 
city or village, on account of said colored youth, and expend the same in such 
manner as said board may deem most expedient and advantageous for the educa- 
tion of said youth. 

In most of the sub-districts in which there are only two or three resident colored 
youth, the inhabitants have waived all legal objections to the education of said 
youth in the common schools of the district. And it is hoped that in no sub- 
district in the State the inhabitants will be found so extremely fastidious or un- 
philanthropic as to deprive a poor colored youth of all education, rather than 
allow him to attend the common school. 

QuES. 113. — In a certain sub-district, in the township of , a new school- 
house has been erected, but so situated that, by reason of swamps, and the want 
of passable roads, it can not be reached by a large number of scholars resident in 
said sub district. The local directors refuse to establish two schools therein, and 
hence several of the inhabitants are obliged to maintain a private school, or let 
their children go without education, and this, too, notwithstanding they pay taxes 
for the support of schools. What is the remedy for such evident injustice to a 
portion of the people of this sub-district ? 

Ans— By seciii n 63 of the general school act, it is declared that all the real and 
personal property in the State shall be taxed for the purpose of **afibrding the 
advantages oi free education to all the youth of this State " hence, every inhabitant 
may reasonably demand of the board of education, in the township in which he 
resides, the establishment of a school within such a distance of his residence, and 
with such facilities for reaching it, as would enable his children to attend it without 
traveling an unreasonable distance, or over impassable roads, or through swamps 



121 

Until such roads are rendered passable, and the swamps drained or bridged, the 
inhabitants who are incommoded, as already stated, should apply to the township 
board for permission to fend tbeir children to the schools 'n other sub-districts 
more accessible ; and the board would be in duty and in law bound to grant such 
permission, if the facts are as stated. And if the board should refuse, without good 
cause, to grant the privilege solicited, the parties feeling themseives aggrieved could 
then apply to the district or supreme court for writ of mandamus, to cumpel the 
board to do its duty in this regard. 

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON THE SCHOOL LAW. 

BY ANSON SMYTH, COMMISSIONER. 

QuEs. 114. — In ' township, the local directors employed a young man to 

teach their school. After a few weeks it was discovered that his moral ii fluence 
over his pupils was of a most pernicious character. He had, in a clandestioe 
manner, circulated among them a vile and licentious book, which was calculated 
to excite the grossest passions, and lead to shameful and ruinous practices. Many 
of his pupils were withdrawn by their parents from the school, and the directors 
were requested to dismiss him from their employment A majority of them, how- 
ever, decided to continue him in charge of the school. Have ihe township board 
of education authority, under our school law, to interfere in the matter, and dis- 
charge the (eacher ? If not, what course can be pursued, lawiully, to secure the 
dismission of the teacher ? 

Ans. — It is deeply to be regretted that instances like this should arise under the 
operation of our school system The object of our schools is the improvement of 
those who attend them. Such improvement will not be secured under the instruc- 
tions of ignorant or immoral teachers. The greatest possible defect in the quali- 
fications of those to whom the instruction of our children is committe d, is the want 
of high-toned morality. Nowhere else are evil principles and vicious habits more 
destructive in their operations than in the teacher. A noble, honorable and pure 
spirit is an indispensable requisite in all whose work it is to mould the characters 
and shape the destinies of the young. That such a teacher as he in regard to 
whom complaint is made should be removed from his oflBce without unnecessary 
delay, all considerate persons must admit. The question is, how shall this re- 
moval be effected ? It is thought by some that the board of education have 
authority, when, in their estimation, the interests of schools require it, to interfere 
in such matters, and overrule the decisions of the local directors. If they have 
this right, it is wholly inferential ; for it is not explicitly conferred by the school 
law. In section 6 of this law it is declared that **it shall be the duty of the school 
directors in each sub-district, to take the management and control of its local 
interests and affairs, to employ teachers, * * and to dismiss any teacher, at any 
time, for such reasons as they may deem sufficient.'* The right of appeal from 
their decision in such cases is nowhere expressly given. In the opinion of the 
undersigned, the action of the local directors in such cases should be considered 
decisive and final. Otherwise numerous and unfortunate collisions will arise 
between the local directors and the board of education. 

Section 46 of the general school law provides an appropriate and sufficient 
remedy for all such cases. Its language is : " If, at any time, the recipient of 
the certificate shall be found incompetent or negligent, the examiners or any two 
of them, may revoke the tame, and require such teacher to be dismissed '* 

If, upon due examination, the examiners find that the teacher has been guilty 
of immoral practices, it is their imperative duty to revoke his certificate, inasmuch 
as the law makes a *'good moral character** a requisite to obtaining such certificate. 

QuES. 115. — Can a board of education, under the restriction of the last legisla- 
ture, levy a tax, general or special, for building purposes, etc., which ^iil amount 



122 

in the aggregate to more than two mills on the dollar, without submitting the sub- 
ject to a vote of the people? The eflfect of the law seems to make this restriction, 
whether designed or not. And such restriction is certainly needed, on account of 
the abuses practiced under the authority of the 23d section. The special assess- 
ments are becoming the rule, and the township levy tht exception. This practice 
not only imposes h^avy and perplexing duties upon the auditors, but is also the 
source of constant jealousy and strife among township oflficers. A sub district 
levy for building purposes usually runs from eight to fifteen mills on the dollar ; 
and the above restriction would virtually do away with such levits, as the amount 
produced would be insufficient to accomplish the objects desired. 

Ans. — Nunoerous inquiries have been addressed to this department, relative to 
the effect upon the 23d section of the recent amendments of the 22d sectioa of the 
general school law. Many entertain the opinion expressed in the above inquiry, 
which comes from the auditor of Meigs county. Others claim that section 23 is in 
no manner modified by the amendments above named. They contend that inas- 
much as this section was neither amended nor repealed, it still gives boards of 
education authority to levy, without restriction, taxes upon sub-districts, ior build- 
ing purposes. 

In order to arrive at just conclusions upon this subject, a correct idea of the 
original purpose and design of section 23 is necessary. It formed no part of the 
law as first drafted and presented to the Legislature. The purpose and spirit of 
the law were, to impose township taxes for ail school purposes whatever. To this 
plan some members objected ; and, as a compromise ol conflicting opinions, section 
23 was added. This section was never designed to originate power with the 
boards of education to assess taxes additional to those named in section 22. It is 
in its character supplemental to that section, defining how, under given circum- 
stances, the taxes n^med in said section 22 shall be levied. Whatever amendments, 
therefore, go to restrict or limit the power of taxation conferred by section 22, pass, 
by necessity, to the following section. 

Among the amendments to the school law, passed April 17, 1857, is a modifi* 
cation of section 22, which limits taxation for all school purposes, oiher than the 
payment of teachers, to two mills on the dollar, of the taxable property of the 
township, excepting in cases where a vote of the township shall decide that a 
greater lax is necessary. As section 23 is virtually part and parcel of section 2£, 
no greater tax than two mills on the dollar can be levied upon any sub-district for 
builoing purposes, except when the people of the township shall, by vote, order 
otherwise. 

If the effect of this opinion shall be a practical repeal of section 23, it will be, 
in the opinion of the undersigned, no cause for regret, as said section has been a 
constant source of difficulty between various school authorities, and of injury to 
the cause of education throughout the State. 

QuEs. 116. — Is it possible, under the school lav^s of the State, for township 
boards so to distribute the school funds as to give the small districts an equal 
number of months of school with the larger ones? There are several sub districts 
in this (Pike) county which pay heavy taxes, but enumerate few youth. They do 
not receive funds sufficient to sustain schools half as long as do the more populous 
adjoining districts, which pay much less for the support of schools. Must the 
board, in all cases, distribute funds according to the enumeration ? 

Ans —Section 24 of the school law, as enacted in 1853, was explicit iii requiring 
that the disposition of funds applicable to the payment of teachers should be in 
proportion to the youth enumerated. Its language was : *'A11 school funds, made 
applicable to the psyment of teachers only, shall be distributed to the several 
sub-districts, and fractional parts thereof, in the township, in proportion to the 
enumeration of scholars, with the exception of so much of the township tax as 
may have been levied and reserved by the board lor sustaining teachers in the 



123 

central or h'gh schools, and such school funds as arise from the sale or rents of 
section sixteen, or other lands in lieu thereof, shall be distributed to the localities 
to wl ich such funds belong.*' 

Th's rule worked great injistice and inconvenience in naany townships in all 
parts of the state. In some sub-districts, large sums of money were accumulated 
from surplus iunds, over and above what was required to maintain their schools 
seven moi ths in the ;^ear. In others, the amount received was not suffi ient to 
maintain the schools for 'half that lime. This arose from the inequality of the 
sub- districts in respect to the number of youth which they iucluded. 

But this evil was entirely removed by the amendment of this section, passed 
April 17, 1867. The township tax which shall be levied for the continuation of 
schools after the state fund has been exhausted, may be distributed according to the 
necessities of the several sub-districts. That is, ''those suh-diatricts which aontain 
comparatively/ a small number of resident youth of school age^ and which, owing to 
sparsenexs of 'population^ and other unavoidable obstacles, can not be enlarged without 
serious inconvenierice to the inhabitants,*' may receive a greater share of the school 
fund than they could draw on the ground of enumeration. 

Let it be understood that the moneys derived from the state levy of one and 
one-half mills on the dollar valuation, are still to be distributed to the several 
sub districts, in proportion to the enumeration of scholars. The distribution of 
funds raised by the township tax for the continuation of schools a'ter the state 
fund has been exhausted, are, alone, subject to the discretion of the township 
board of education. 

QuES. 117. — Can a sub-district, which has a surplus of money app'icable to 
the payment of teachers, be made to divide with smaller sub districts in which 
there is a deficiency ? 

Aks — Inasmuch as section 24 of the general school law, prior to its amend- 
ment, March J 7, 1857, required that all funds such as are contemplated in the 
question. ** shall be distributed to the several sub districts, and fractional parts 
thereof, in the township, in proportion to the enumeration of scholars," and as 
the operation of this rule has, in numerous instances, induced in townships the 
condition which the question implies, it is evident that the interests of education 
demand a refunding of surplus moneys, that the same may be applied to relieve 
the necessities of such sub-districts as are deficient in funds. But I know of no 
law which would ** compel'* the refunding of moneys received according to the 
explicit provisions of law. There is, however, a remedy, which township boards 
of education can apply in all such cases of injustice and inconvenience. By the 
amendment alluded to, boards have authority to distribute the funds raised by 
townships for prolonging schools after the state fund has been exhausted, accord- 
ing to the necessities of the several sub districts. If, therefore, a given sub-district 
has a surplus on hand, the board may take that fact into account, and at their 
next distribution make such a divi&ion of funds as would equalize the resources 
of all the sub-districts. 

It is true that this remedy is prospective in its operation. It does not furnish 
immediate relief to the smaller sub-districts. Still, it assures them of relief at the 
earliest period consistent with the provisions of law. 

QuEs. 118. — Does the school law require that the superintendent of the schools 
in a city or village, be examined, and receive a certificate of qualifications to 
teach, in order to draw his pay from the public funds ? 

Ans — No such ofiSce as that named in the question, is known to any existing 
school law of the state. Section 13 of the general school law gives the township 
board authority to appoint one of their own number the acting manager of schools 
for the township. But this is not such an office, precisely, as that named in the 
inquiry. 

That the character of this office may be understood, we must consider its ac- 



121 

customed dulies. What, then, are the appropriate labors of a superintendent of 
the schools of a village or city ? 

In our larger towns, the superintendent devotes all his time to the general 
oversight and management of the schools. He recommends to the board of edu- 
cation suitable persons to be employed as teachers. He frequently vi-its the sev- 
eral schools, and advises or directs the teachers in regard to their duties. He 
calls meetings of the teachers, and gives them instruction in regard to teaching 
and discipline. He examines classes, and promotes pupils from grade to grade, 
according to their proficiency. He takes oversight ot the buildings and other 
school property. In the smaller towns, he acts not only as a general superintend- 
ent of the schools, but also a teacher in some one of the departments ; devoting, 
perhaps, one-half his time to each of these branches of labor. In any case, his 
duties are just what the board, his employers, may please to make them. No 
state law creates his office, or defines his duties. In all things he is subject to the 
will of the power that gives him his position. 

It needs no argument to prove that he is, virtually, the principal of the schools; 
that is, the head teacher, or the foreman of the teachers, and as such teacher, it is 
manifestly proper that he should receive from the proper source a certificate of 
qualifications. He receives his salary from the same fund, and in the same man- 
ner that other teachers do. And as the law positively forbids the disbursement 
of this fund to any excepting teachers holding the proper certificate of qualifica- 
tions, it is plain that the question should receive an affirmative answer. 

QuES. 119. — If directors furnish a teacher with a set of written rules, and he 
gains the disapprobation of some parents by trying lo carry them into effect, have 
the directors power to close the school before the term expires ? Or, if a teacher 
is discharged while he is complying with th3 reasonable requirements of the di- 
rectors, can he not recover pay for the full term, accordmg to the article of 
agreement ? 

Ans — Inquiries similar to the above, are frequently received at this office. 
Section 6 of the general school law, makes it the duty of the school directors ** to 
employ teachers, * * * and to dismiss any teacher at any time, for such 
reasons as they may deem sufficient." 

Section 11 of ** an act to amend, and supplementary to an act entitled * an act 
to provide for the reorganization, supervision and maintenance of common 
schools,' passed March 4, 1863," dated April 17, 1857, provides that *' If the 
directors of any sub-district dismiss any teacher for any frivolous or insufficient 
reason, such teacher may bring suit against such sub-district, and if, on the trial 
of the cause, a judgment be obtained against the sub-district, the directors 
thereof shall certify to the clerk of the board the sum so found due, and he shall 
issue an order to the person entitled thereto, upon the township treasurer, to pay 
the same out of any money in his hands belonging to said sub-district, and ap- 
plicable to the payment of teachers. In such suits, process may be served upon 
the clerk of the sub district, and service upon him shall be sufficient " 

These provisions are so clear and explicit as to render explanation unneces- 
sary. Directors have power to dismiss a teacher for such reasons as they may 
deem sufficient. But should the c^urt before which the teacher should bring 
suit, deem these reasons "frivolous or insufficient,'* such teacher can reover 
such an amount as the court shall judge to be just and proper. Whether this 
amount, in any case, shall be the same as the " pay for the full term according to 
the article of agreement," will, doubtless, depend upon the facts pertaining to 
each litigated case. 

Competent and worthy teachers are liable to be dismissed by incompetent and 
unworthy directors. But such cases will be exceedingly rare. The chief danger 
in regard to this matter is that worthless teachers will be suffered to continue in 
charge of schools, when both justice and mercy demand that they should be dis- 



125 

missed from an employment for which they are utterly unqualified. Because a 
teacher has obtained a certificate from a board of examiners, it does not of neces- 
sity follow that he is competent to take charge of the instruction of children and 
youth In practical knowledge, tact and discretion, the directors may find him to 
be so deficient as to render his dismission their imperative duty. In such a case, 
the teacher could not, and should not recover damages. 

QuES 120. — Some two years since, the board of examiners for county, 

granted a certificate of qualification for teaching school, to a certain young man 
of said county He sustained the examinatian with great credit to himself, and 
gave satisfactory evidence of an excellent moral character. But upon trial he 
failed in regard to government. He could not preserve due order in the school- 
room, and before the time for which he had been engaged had expired, he was 
dismissed by the directors. He subsequently engaged in another school, and 
although he continued till the close of his engagement, he failed to maintain or- 
der, and the school was of little or no utility to those who attended it. 

A few weeks since, he applied to be examined for another certificate, which 
the board refused to grant, on the ground of his repeated failures in governing 
his pupils. Are the examiners justifiable for this refusal ? 

Ans — Most certainly they are. Scholarship and moral character are not the 
only requisites required of teachers. No qualifications are of higher importance 
than the ability to maintain due order in the school-room. 

Same young teachers may fail for one term in governing a school, but after 
that experience, achieve satisfactory success as disciplinarians. For a single 
failure of this kind, they should not be rejected. But when it becomes a settled 
point that candidates are particularly deficient in the matter of government, they 
should be rejected by the board. 

Examiners need exercise discretion in deciding such cases. 

QuES. 121. — Can a woman be a legal examiner of teachers, under the several 
school laws now in force in Ohio ? If so, is it proper and expedient that they 
should be appointed to this office ? 

Ans — The answer to the former of the above inquiries, must depend upon the 
phraseology of the laws which create the office of examiner. Section 44 of the 
general school law makes it *'the duty of the probate judge, in the several coun- 
ties of this state, as soon after the election of school officers under the provisions 
of this act as p acticable, to appoint a county board of school examiners, to con- 
sist of three competent persons, resident in the county,'* etc. Under this law, it 
is manifest that a woman is competent, legally, to hold the office of examiner. 
She is a ** person," and may be " a resident in the county " 

Section 9 of the Akron school law makes it the duty of the town council ** to 
appoint three competent persons to serve as school examiners of said town, all of 
whom shall be citizens of Akron," etc. Section 13 of the ** general act for schools 
in cities and towns" says: "The board of education, within twenty days after their 
election, shall appoint three competent persons, citizens of said district, to serve as 
school examiners of the public schools therein," etc. 

These last two laws requite that the examiners shall be ** ciiizms.'' It may be 
that the Legislatures which enacted these laws intended to require only that the 
examiners should be residents, etc. Still, the language of the law must govern in 
the case, unless the courts shall decide otherwise. A woman is not, legally, a 
** citizen,^* for this term implies, in law, much more than mere residence. It im- 
plies the rights of elective franchise, which have not yet been accorded to woman. 

In regard to this point, it is proper to rera^irk that I have consulted the highest 
legal authority in the State, and have conformed my opinion to the advice thenee 
derived. 

In regard to the second inquiry, whether it is (xpedient that women should hold 
the office under consideration, it is my opinion that circumstances should receive 



126 

due regard in determining the answer. If men who are every way qualified will 
acc« pt the position, there are strong reasons why they, rather than women, should 
receive appointment. Under the general school law, the only one under which 
women are legally competent, the examiners are county oflScers, and it frequently 
becomes necessary that they travel from ten to twenty miles for the purpose of 
holding examinations. When a large numbef of candidates are examined, severe 
and tiresome labor must be performed. Many women are physically inconpetent 
for such fatiguing service. It sometimes happens that ignorant and coarse men, 
who, upon exammation, are refused certificates, become denunciatory and brutal 
in their language, threatening vengeance upon the examiners. It would be im- 
proper, not to say cruel, to subject women to such indignities. 

But whenever men of suitable qualifications will not accept this office, it is far 
better that v omen, if qualified, should receive the appointment, than that it shi.uld 
be given to incompetent men. 

Note — It did not occur to me, in writing the above opinion, that the question 
is settled by the Constitution of the State. Art. XV., sec. 4, declares that "wo 
•person shall he elected or appointed to any office in this State unless he possess the 
qualifications of an elector.'* 

QuES. 122. — A short time since, the probate judge of county, for reasons 

satisfactory to himself, saw proper to remove one of the school examiners of this 
county, and appointed me in his stead. The removed officer refused to yield his 
seat, alleging ihat the probate judge has no lawful authority vested in him, giving 
him the power to remove a school examiner. I would, then, propose the query, 
■whether the probate judge has the authority to remove a school examiner for any 
reason, or not, and it not, to what authority or court are they amenable for their 
conduct ? And should they fail to discharge faithfully and impartially the respon- 
sible duties devolving upon them, or should be guilty of conducting themselves in 
an unbecoming manner, what course must be pursued ? 

Ass. — The school law makes it the duty of the judges of probate to appoint 
school examiners for their respective counties, but it does not confer upon them 
the power of removal from office. Power to appoint does not carry with it the 
power to remove. It is my opinion that there is no law for the removal or im- 
peachment of school examiners. 

This fact should induce probate judges to exercise great discretion and careful- 
ness in their appointments to this office. By this course they may avoid the 
necessity for removals. 

In the opinion of the undersigned, it is not desirable that probate judges should 
have power to remove examiners, as they would often be importuned to make 
removals for insufficient reasons. For example, any one who should become dis- 
satisfied with the doings of the examiners could get up petitions for their removal. 
Should the examiners be thorough and faithful in their examinations, and refuse 
ctrtificaies to the incompetent, they would, in many instances, be rewarded with 
malicious persecution. It is better that an unworthy examiner should be retained 
in the board for his brief official term, than that the door should be opened to the 
ingress of interminable difficulties. 

QuES, 123. — The local directors of one of the sub-districts in county, em- 
ployed a teacher, some time in December last, to teach for them, who had not at 
the time a certificate. He closed his school in February last, and at our regular 
monthly meeting in April he applied and obtained a certificate, dated upon the 
day of examication. The clerk of the township refuses to grant an order on the 
certificate. Suit is threatened by one party if he grants it, and by the other if he 
withholds it. They appeal to the board of examiners to relieve them by dating 
the certificate back, to cover the time in which he taught. 

Question — What is the respective duty of the several officers, from the local 
directors up to the board of examiners, in this special case ? W^ould we be justi- 



127 

fiable in dating his certificate so as to include tbe time, or would the clerk be 
justified in granting an order on the certificate obtained some tliree months after 
the close of the school ? 

Ana — Sec. 46 of the school law plainly and positively forbids the employment 
of a teacher who is not at the time of his employment in possession of a certificate 
of qualifications for teaching, obtained from the board of examiners for the county 
in which he is to teach. Seldom or never should this prohibition be disregarded, 
for it is not safe to take it for granted that a teacher who is not in possession of a 
certificate of qualifications will be able to obtain such certificate. ^Should such a 
teacher ultimately fail of obtaining a certificate, under no circumstances should 
the public school funds be appropriated to the payment of services rendered ; but 
the directors wou'd, in their individual character, be liable for such payment 

In some instances which have come to the knowledge of the undersigned, 
directors have sought to prevent or avoid such liability by an agreement with the 
teacher that he should assume the responsibility of obtainiog a certificate ; and 
that if he fails to obtain it, be shall receive no pay for the services which he may 
render. Puch a proviso may exempt the directors from pecuniary liability, but 
it does not necessarily protect the people of the sub-district against the danger of 
a worthless school ; and directors would find it difficult to justify such trifling with 
the high interests which they are set to guard. 

It is my opinion that township clerks should never draw orders for the payment 
of teachers for time not covered by their certificates. This is the only safe rule 
by which they can be governed in this matter. 

Should an instance arise when it should become absolutely and unavoidably 
necessary that a teacher commence school prior to obtaining a certificate, and 
then at the first subsequent meeting of the board of examiners obtain a certificate, 
it is my opinion that said board may antedate the same so as to cover the time 
during which he has taugUt. But no such dating back should be granted him in 
case he had neglected to use due diligence to possess himself of a certificate at an 
earlier period. 

For obvious reasons, it is far better that the necessary discretion in this matter 
should be exercised by thy board of examiners than by the totvoship clerk. 

QuES. 124. — A teacher was employed for ths term of three months, and was to 
receive ^20 per month for his services. At the time of his engagement he had 
obtained no certificate from the board of examiners, and he taught six weeks 
before applying for examination. He then obtained a certificate for one year. 
The local directors certified to the township clerk that there was due the teacher 
^60, for three months* services. But inasmuch as his certificate of qualifications 
covered but half of this time, the clerk declined to draw an order for more than 
half the amount; that is, ^30. Such an order the teacher refused to receive, and 
reported the case back to the local directors. The directors then certified to the 
clerk that the teacher had taught one month and a half, at ^40 a month, and that 
there was due him ^60. Bat the clerk, believing that this was a mere trick for 
evading the force of a just law, still refused to draw the order for the full amount. 
Questions. — Was the action of the directors and teacher in this matter legal and 
justifiable ? And had the township clerk any just right to go back of the certifi- 
cate of the directors, and refuse to draw an order for the full amount. 

Aks. — In respect to the propriety and honesty of the course pursued by the 
directors and teacher in this case, my opinion coincides entirely with that enter- 
tained and expressed upon the subj ct by the township clerk. But, in addition to 
this estimation of the case, there are serious legal objections thereto. Section 24 
of the school law enjoins the duty of keeping up schools in all the sub districts for 
at least six months ia each year. If boards of education report out half the time 
during which schools have been sustained, they represent themselves as violating 
the law which requires twice the amount of time which is given in their reports. 



128 

As to the second inquiry, I must give it as my opinion that the course pursued 
by the township clerk was justifiable, and worthy of praise. In all ordinary cases, 
and in the absence of all evidence of illegaliiy in the proceedings of the local 
directors in such matters, it is no part of the duty of the clerk to go back of the 
certificate ot the directors, and inquire iato the propriety of their official acts. In 
such cases his duties are simply executive, and not judicial But when he is in 
possession < f the fullest testimony that he is required to aid and abet ia the per- 
petration of a fraud, to assist in obtaining pubJic funds under false pretenses, it 
clearly becomes his duty to decline such participation 

It is the design of the law that directors, clerks, treasurers and auditors shall 
act as checks upon each other; otherwise the school funds might pass directly 
from the pockets of the tax-payers into the hands of the local directors But all 
experience has shown the necessity of appropriate checks and guards, to prevent 
the perversion and squandering of public funds. 

QuES. 124 —The Doard of school examiners for county hold their meetings 

on Saturday of every week. Each session Continues upon an average not to ex- 
ceed three hours. Each member of the board receives for such services the legal 
fee of one dollar and fifty cents for each day thus employed. In addition to this, 
the clerk of the board makes a charge of five dollars per quarter for rt^cording 
proceediogs. Have the clerks of boards of examiners a legal right to receive pay 
for clerical services, additional to that received as members of the boards of exam- 
iners ? 

Ans. — When the meetings held for examination are so largely attended as to 
require the whole day for the simple work of examinationv leaving the clerk no 
time to make out certificates and record proceedings, rendering it necessary that 
this work should be performed on another day, it is just and proper that he re- 
ceive pay for the same, at the rate of one dollar and fitty cents a day. But such 
cases will seldom or never occur where the meetings of the board are frequent, 
and when examinations are conducted on the plan of oral questions. 

In all cases similar to the one stated above, extra charges by the clerk are 
illegal ; and such accounts should never be allowed by the county auditor. 

QuES. 125. — In two of the sub districts of township, special taxes were 

levied m 1 857, for the erection of school houses therein. The cost of these houses 
considerably exceeds the amount raised for their erection. Can this deficiency be 
made up by a special levy upon those sub-districts the present year ?• 

Aks. — Certainly not. The amendment to the twenty-third section 6i the school 
law, passed April 12, 1853, declares " ikat suck tax shall not be levied in amy sub' 
district wherein the same has been heretofore levied, nor in any case shall it be assessed 
more than once in any sub-district " 

QuES. 126. — What is the just and true interpretation of the amended twenty- 
third section of the school law, where it declares that a special tax '* shall not be 
levied in any sub-district wherein the same has been heretofore levied?" Does 
the intention of the word *' hereto/ore," reach back to a period prior to the enact- 
ment of the present school law, which was passed March 14, 1853? 

Ans. — Ot course it can refer to no other t^xes than those which have been 
levied under the authority of this twenty-third section. Under the system which 
prevailed previous to the enactment of the present law, every district in the state 
had paid taxes of this character. Any sub-district which has not paid a special 
V.iX since the present law came into force, is liable to a levy not exceeding two mills 
on the dollar, (unless a greater assessment shall be approved by a vote of the 
township,) for the cost of purchasing a school house site, and erecting or repairing 
a school house the. eon. 

QuES 127. — Are residents of sub-districts, composed of fractional parts of 
diflerent townchips, entitled to vote in the election ot local directors, unless resident 
of that portion of such sub-district which lies within the township where the school 



129 

house is located ? In other words, are residents of such fractional parts of town- 
ships, where no school house is located, entitled to any vote in such election ? If 
so, can such directors be elected from either or all the fractional parts of townships, 
or only from the one in which the school house is located ? If from any or all, 
the clerk being selected from the number, should he chance to bs a resident of a 
fraction where the h"»use is not situated, will he be a representative m the board 
of the township in which he resides, or in that of the township where the school 
house is located. 

An8 — The first of the above inquiries I answer, without hesitation, in the 
affirmative. Sec. 2 of the school law provides that residents within sub-districts 
who have the qualifications of voters at the state and county elections, shall be 
entitled to vote in the election of local directors. The fact that a sub district may 
be composed of fractional parts of different townships does not, in the opinion of 
the undersigned, alter the case in the least. Sec. 16, which authorizes the estab- 
lishment of joint sub districts, gives no intimation that any portion of the electors 
resident within such sub-districts are to be disfranchised, so far as having a voice 
in the selection of local directors is concerned. 

The second point of inquiry I answer by expressing the opinion that local direc- 
tors for joint sub-districts can be chosen from any parts of such sub-districts. The 
right to vote under the school laws of the state, carries with it the right to hold 
office under such laws. 

The last point of inquiry is not so easily answered. Should the local directors 
choose their clerk from a part of the sub-district which is not included within the 
township in which the school house is situated, and said clerk thereby become a 
member of the board of education for a township of which he is not a resident, it 
might be objected that it involved a conflict of legal and municipal principles. 
But in reply to such objection it is sufficient to state that every part of a joint sub- 
district becomes, for school purposes, a part of that township in which the school 
house is situated ; so far, at least, as the matter under consideration is concerned. 
It is, therefore, legal and proper that the clerk of a joint sub-district should become 
a member of the board of education, without regard to the fact of his residence in 
one or another of the fractional parts of townships which compose the joint sub- 
district. 

QuES 128.— By the township levy for 1867, for the purpose of prolonging the 
schools in the several sub-districts after the state funds were exhausted, there was 
raised the sum of ^471 69, which was to be distributed between 360 scholars, 
which on the 19th of April last was divided as follows, showing the number of 
scholars, the amount of state funds, the amount of township funds, and the total 
amount to each sub- district : 



No. of sub-district. 


No. of schol 

ars. 


Amount of 
State Funds. 


Amount of 
T'p Funds. 


Total am't to 
each sub-dist. 


1 


90 
92 
61 
62 
55 


$142 80 

145 98 

96 82 

98 41 

87 25 


$65 63 
62 65 
111 18 
110 22 
121 38 


$208 63 
208 63 


2 


3 


208 63 


4 


208 63 


5 


208 63 







The question which the board wish you to answer is this : Is the above distri- 
bution in accordance with the spirit of the law, or should they have provided a six 
months' school for the smaller sub-districts, and have left the remainder to be 
appropriated to those larger sub-distrids, so as to have extended the schools to a 
longer period than six months ? There seem to be some doubts in the minds of 
9 



130 

some of the members of the board as to the propriety of such a distribution of the 
township funds. 

Ans — It is my opinion that the disttibution of school funds by your board of 
education was in accordance with the spirit, of the law. as expressed in the amended 
twenty-fourih section It certainly was just and proper, provided the sub districts 
required teachers of equal qu >li6cations. As a general fact, a school containing 
thiny pupils needs as good a teacher as one which cnntains a greater number. 
Still, in some instances it is necessary to emp'oy a more expensive tencher for the 
larmier school. The work to be d< ne requires more activity, energy, tact and 
physical endurance ; and it is entirely proper and just that such a teacher should 
receive a higher compensauon than one in a school which does not demand these 
qualifications to so great an extent. 

Af er providing amply for a school of at least six m >nths in each sub district, 
it ife my opinion that it is entirely proper that any balance of funds applicable to 
the payment of teachers which may remain on hand naay be appropriated at the 
discreti(>n of the board. 

Permit me to express my gratification that your board are di-posed to deal so 
liberally with the less populous ^ub-clistricts It is a cause lor regret thai the same 
spirit does not prevail in all the townships of the state. 

QuES. 129. — Our board of education are at loss to know how they shall raise 
funds to keep up a fcchool the length of time required by law, when the directors 
have pHid exorbitant prices for teaching, and txpeLded all of the public lunds in 
thr*e or four moi ths. 

Can they authorize a special tax on such sub-district, or must the funds be 
furnished by a tax upon the township ? 

JMis. — No tax can legaliv be levied upon a sub-district for the purpose of paying 
teachers* wages. It is the duty of the board of education annually to estimate the 
amount of funds necessary for the purpose of prolonging, alter the state funds 
have been exhausted, the teims of the several sub-disi,ricts or primary schools in 
the township, and certij the amount to the auditor ot the cou' ty. This assess- 
m» nt cannot exceed two mills on the dollar ; and it must be levied upon ad the 
taxable property of the township. The money thus raised, together with that 
derivf d Jrom the state funds, will pr*>ve amply sufficient tor sustaining the schools 
of the township at le^st s x m nths in the }ear. See school law, seciit)n 22. 

If th«- local directtrs in any sub-district are dispo^^ed t<> pay ''exorbitant prices 
for teachmg," and thus endanger the prospect of thur ability to sust in a school 
for six months, it is my opinion that the general supervisory powers with which 
the h.w invests board ^ of education, are such as to authorize said boards to t stablish 
rules liu i'lny the amount which ihe local directors may agree to pay teachers. 

QuER. 130 — The t*tnty -sixth section of the school law m^kes it the dury ot the 
towjjthip board of education "to make settlement with the township treasurer at 
tbe'r regular session in April annually " And section 29 requires treasurers 
"annually between the first and twentieth of Februaiy, to settle with the c^ unty 
auditor, and ace nnt to him for all moneys receivt-d, from whom and on what 
accuunt, and the amount paid ow for school purposes in his township." Some 
treasurers think that they should not make settlement with the auditor for 
school money not applic tbJe to the payment of teachers, and only settle for the 
teacf ers' fund and the und othtr than lor the payment of teachers, settle lor with 
the board of education. 

The question I wish answered is, what funds should they settle for with the 
au< it !r and what with the board of education ? If they are required to settle 
for hU moneys with the auditor, then what is left for them to settle with the board 
of • ducaiion ? 

Ans — The township treasurer must ''settle with the county auditor and ac- 
count to him for all moneys received, from whom and on what account, and the 



131 

amount paii out for scliool purposes ia his township." I knov of no language 
by which the requirement that the treasurer .'^etle witti the auiitor for ''all 
moneys rectr-ived," could be made more clear and explicit. 

In regard to the second p )int of inquiry, L giv^^ it as my opinion that there is 
no impropriety in requiring the township treasurer to settle with the bo^,rd of edu- 
cation for the receipt and disbursement of the same moneys i<\ regard to which 
he is required to settle with the au 'itor. A new b >ard ot educatioi, or an old 
one reorganized, comes into power at the time when this settlement is r q'lired to 
be made ; and there certainly is propriety in the requirement thtt they should be 
made acqu tinted with the amount and condition of funds subject to their or ler. 

QuES. 131. — Does the school law make provision for the ptyment of services 
rendered in preparing the various reports whi;n it requires ? 

Ans, — Sec ion forty-one provides that the county commissioners of ear^h county 
in this state, shall make the s^me allowance to the county auditor out of their re- 
spective county treasuries, for services performed and expenses incurrel under 
this act, as is all )wed for other services of like nature. It is, therefore, obvious 
that there is no ground for complaint on the part of the auditors 

The township boards of education are, by section 25, authorized to impose the 
duty of reporting to the auditors upon their clerk, or upon the acting manag-r of 
schools for the township. Should they appoint, tor this purpose, the acting mana- 
ger of schools, they may, according to section 13, " allow htm a reasonable com- 
pensation for his services" Should they appoint the township clerk to prepare 
and forward the lequired report he could claim and receive paym nt tor this labor 
as Wed as for other clerical services rendered. In repy to the inquires whether 
township clerks are eniiiled to remuneration for their services as members of the 
township boards of education, or for makinj^ and tr-tnsmitting to county au litors 
abstiacts ot the enumeration returned to them, or for taking the enumeration in 
case the directors in any sub-district fail to take and return the same, or for fill- 
ing vacancies m the boards of local directors, or for drawing in favor of teachers, 
or for acting as clerk at meetings relative to central or high schools, or f)r prose- 
cuting township freasu.ers on their bonds, or for reporting to the state commis- 
sioner when required to do so? If so, from whom and trom ^hat funds ? The 
following answer was given by the late commissioner, Hon. H. H. Barney: 

** Che rule on this subject is undrrstuod to be that township or county officers 
neither salaried nor created by the school law, but upon whom it imposes certain 
new duties, are entitled to the same allowance out of their respectivre county or 
township treasuries, for services performed and expenses incurred under the 
school law, as is allowed them lor other services of like nature, rendered in their 
official capacity." 

In most instances the township clerk is also the acting manager of schools. In 
either case ample provision is made for payment of services rendered in preparing 
and forwarding reports to the county auditor. 

The reports which teachers are required to make demand no other remunera- 
tion than that which is received in their stipulated salaries. 

The only remaining officers upon wh »m reports are dependent, are the direc- 
tors of sub districts. They are required annually to take, or cause to be taken, 
an enumeration of all the unmarried white and colored youth between the ages 
of five and twenty-one years, resident within such sub disiriet, and return the 
same to the township clerk. When it is considered that there are in each sub- 
district three directors, and an average of about tixty youth subject to enumera- 
tion, the annual duty thus imposed can not be deemed as seriously oner »us 

Although no provision is male for paying school officers for the discharge of 
ordinary duties, yet it must Oe apparent to all that ampie remunera ion is pro- 
vided for prep-tring and forwarding the several reports lor which our scho il law 
makes demand ; with the simple exception of the enumeration in sub-dicitricts. 



132 

it is difficult to ucdeistand wby such general and earnest complaint should have 
been made against our school system on this account. I am inclined to the 
opioion that the provisions of the law relating to this matter have not been fully- 
understood. 

QuES. 132. — What penalties does the school law impose for neglecting to make 
the reports which it requires ; and have these penalties been exacted in practice 
under the law ? 

Ans — In case the directors in any sub-district shall fail to take and return the 
enumeration required, the expense of taking the same may be recovered from 
them in civil action, before any court having jurisdiction in such matters. If 
school teachers neglect to make the reports required of them, they forfeit the 
full amount of their salaries. If boards of education and auditors fail to make 
the proper returns, their townships and counties can not lawfully share any por- 
tion of the stafe school funds ; but those officers are held responsible for the 
amounts which would have been apportioned to their respective townships and 
counties had the proper reports been rendered. (See sections 8, 18 and 42.) 
Section 40 declares that **in case the county auditor shall tail, from any cause, to 
make return of the abstract as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the county 
commissioners to deduct for every such failure from the annual salary or allow- 
ance made to the auditor for his services, the sum of fifty dollars '* 

The law is decided and emphatic in forbidding that iunds be apportioned to 
such townships and counties as fail to make the reports required Section 37 
declares ** the county auditors shall annually, and immediately after their annual 
settlement with the county treasurer, apportion tne school funds for their respec- 
tive counties according to the enumeration and returns in their respective offices ; 
and no toivnship or other district, city, or village^ which shall have failed to rrmke and 
return mch enumeration, shall be entitled to receive any portion of the common school 



Section 67 is equally explicit in regard to this particular. It provides that no 
order shall be drawn by the county auditor upon the county treasurer, in favor of 
any board of education, ** unless the local treasurer, clerk, recorder or secretary 
of such board, or other school officer, shall first deposit with said auditor, annually, 
an abstract of the enumeration of scholars and other statistics relative to the schools 
under their charge, as required by this ac:, of teachers, local directors, and boards of 
education in townships.'* 

It has been deemed prudent hitherto not to enforce the above provisions ; but 
to afford the people in all parts of the state ample time and opportunity for full 
acquaintance with the general principles and special details of our school system. 
But in the opinion of the late school commissioner, the time has come when the 
highest interests of education demand that for the future all townships, cities and 
villages, which shall fail to make the returns which the law requires, shall be ex- 
cluded ftom a participation in the school funds. Such is also my own judgment 
in the case. To carry this idea of duty into strict execution, would be, on the 
part of county auditors, an unpleasant necessity ; but whenever an individual 
has accepted office und^r any given law, it becomes his imperative duty to abide 
by the provisions of that law ; and delicate and painful as the discharge of his 
official duties sometimes may be, he has no option but to execute them. And in 
this view of the case, I shall address all county auditors in the state in regard to 
this matter. Section k52 declares that the state commissioner of common schools 
*' shall (xe/cise such supervision mer the educational funds of the state as may be 
necessary to secure their safely , and right applicaiion and distribution according to 
law. He shall have power to require of county auditors aod township boards of 
education, or other local school officers, clerks and treasurers of townships, 
county treasurers and clerks, recorders and treasurers of cities and villages, 
copies of all reports by them required to be made ; and all such information in 



133 

relation to the funds and condition of schools, and the management tliereof, as he may 
deem important.'* 

QuB8. 133. — From certain facts of recent occurrence, I desire your opioion upon 
the followiDg points : 

1 Do the school laws of the State authorize teachers to expel o** suspend pupils 
from school ? 2. What school officers have (his authority ? 3 Admitting that 
boards of educalion have such authority, can a single member exercise it? 4. 
Should a pupil be suspended until his parents have been consulted in the matter ? 
5. Who is o decide when a pupil deserves suspension ? 

Aks. — 1. Neither our general school law, nor any of the special laws now in 
force in the State, conlers upon teachers authority to expel or suspend pupils from 
school ? 

2. Section 15 of the general school law gives power to boards of education to 
suspend disorderly pupils from the privileges of the school, which suspension will 
ezpiie with the current session ol the school. Said boards may devo ve this duty 
upon the local di»ectors of the sub-districts. In cities and incorporated villages 
there are no local direciors, and most of the special laws under which their schools 
are organized confer upon boards authority to make and establish such rules and 
regulations for the government of the schools as they may deem necessary and 
proper. See Swan's Revised Statutes, page 860, sec. 1 1 ; also page 855, sec 6. 
If the boards of education authorize teachers to suspend disorderly and ungovern- 
able pupils, it is my opinion that the several school laws of the State will sustain 
them in so doing. What the boards do through their authorized agents, they do 
themselves. 

3. The answer to this inquiry must depend upon the nature of the rules and 
practices which prevail with the boards. Section 13 of the general school law 
empowers boards of education to *' appoint one of their number the acting manager 
of schools for the township, who shall do and perform all such duties as the board 
may prescribe in relation to the management and supervision of the different 
schools," etc. Frequently boards authorize their president, or the chairman of 
the committee on school discipline, to act for them in all matters pertaining to the 
government of the schools. 

4. Boards of education and their authorized agents should be careful that no 
injustice be done to any pupil. Certainly no child should be subjected to the 
disgrace of a suspension until all milder efforts have been made to reclaim and 
reform him. The tignt of a child to attend school should not be consi lered for- 
feited until there is full evidence of his persistent purpose to be disorderly. U.^ually 
it is eminently proper that parents should be notified previous to the sut^pension, 
that their influence may unite with that of the teacher to avert the necessity for 
extreme punishment But when it is notorious that a parent upholds his child in 
his evil practices, such parent can make no high claim to be consulted, on the 
ground either of justice or courtesy. 

5. Boards of education are the lawful and proper judges of the question whether 
a pupil hns forfeited the right to continue in the school. 

QuES. 134. — At the election of local director, held in a certain sub-district two 
years ago last April, two persons received an equal number of votes. The parlies 
then decided the elect on bg lot; and the man who won was sworn in, and served 
as director till last June, without objection from any quarter. Then certain diffi- 
culties arose in the sub-district, and one party objected to the legality of this 
director's election. The township clerk decided that he was not entitled to the 
office, and appointed another naan in his place. 

1. Was the t lee ion valid ? 2. If not valid, had the township clerk a right to 
appoint a director ? 

Ans. — 1. The election was not according to the statute, and was, therefore, not 
valii, A tie vote is simply a failure to elect ; and another ballot should have been 



134 

taVen, eitlier at the time, or at an adjourned meeting. Or a special meeting nriight 
have been held, according to tht^ k>u»th seciion of the law. The provision for 
castiniJ: Kits in case of a tie vote found in i\e second section, had regarn, not to 
the election of din ctors, bu' to the duration of their official terms, and was intended 
to apply exclusively to the first electim he'd under the law. 2. The vacmcy was 
not one which could be fi led by appttintrrent by the township clert. It was a 
failure to elect, ard therefore a special election should have been called, according 
to the fourth st-ction of the statute. 

It may be proper to remark here, though the matter is not involved in the inqui- 
ries presented, th>^t the acts of this director, chosen by lot, are valid and binding. 
Bad ano her dnector been chosen at a special meeting, and had the one who was 
chosen by lot s'l]] clainied a right to hold and exercise the office, the question be- 
tween tl em cou d be properly settled only by a writ of quo warranto. 

QuEs. 135 — In township it has been the custom to divide up the contingent 

fund among the sub-districts, and leave it in the hands of the clerk*, to be paid 
out by them as it may be needed. Is this practice in accordance with the school 
law] 

Aks — It is my decided op'nion that such funds should be retained in the cus- 
tody of the ttwnsl^ ip treasurer until drawn cut on orders of the board of education 
for the payment oi i^pedjied expenses. See School Law, section 24. 

QuFS. 136 — The local directors of a sub (*isirict in Porter township, Scioto 
county, Ohio engaged a teacher, by written con'ract, on the first day of June, 
1861, for ihe term of six months, commencing l^eptember 9ih, 1861, tor S40 per 
month. The board of education of that township met on the 16th of Sep'ember, 
and passed a resolution instructirg the clerk to give no orders on the treasury for 
more than ^33-J per month The clerk then gave written notice to the local 
direct( rs in the sub district referred to, that ary certificate given by them for more 
thf'n $33-J would be ccnsid{r<d null and void Would the action cf the board 
afiect that contract, made (n the first day of June? 

A»s. — It is my opinion that the resolution of the board of education can not be 
retroaciive; consequently the contract remains valid. £!x post facto laws an* rules 
are to be held as void. The teacher can collect the lull amount specified in the 
contract. 

Inquiries have bten made at this office as to the amount of State school funds 
to be apportioned during the current school year Boards of education and o'her 
parties desiie to know Tshether the amount will be sufficient to meet and fulfill 
outstanding contracts. 

In reply, 1 have to slate that the amount of funds for the present year, derived 
frcm ihe levy oi one and four-ttnlhs mills on all the property in the State, will be 
some wl at less per enumerated } outh than for previous j ears The amount alieady 
ap);o)tioned is sixtvMX c<nts to each, and it is probable tliMt the Angust appor- 
tionn ent will be about the fame, possibly it may reach sixty-eight c^nts. The 
\phole amount for the year will be six or eight cen's less than was distributed in 
1860. !Now, as the gtai d duplicate upon which the assessment of last year was 
made exceeded that (-1 any Icrmer year, the question very natuially arises, why 
the State school lund yields a less amount to each enumerated youth than for- 
merly ? 

Two facts vill fuini h a satisfactory answer to this question. The General As- 
sen.bly ot 1^60 reduced the Sta'e levy for school purposes one-tenth ot a mill; 
and the result is that the amount assessed lastjear was 824,621 60 less than 
that of tie toimer 3 ear. Again, tie nun her of }oi)th enumeiaied in U60 ex- 
ceeded the number ot the foimer year by 26 930. With an increased divi.^or and 
a cinini^hed cividend, it is as plain as a)iilmftic that the quotitnt, or amount 
disnibuted to each ent merated yoitth, nust be climinishtd. 

QuLS. 137. — To acctmmodaie the children in a certain sub-district, the truEttes 



136 

of iho townsliip were called upon to open a new townsliip road. On the location 
of said rond, some $80 or $100 damages were assessed by the viewers in favor of 
the parties through whose land the road was laid. The township board of educa- 
tion directed their clerk to i<sue an order on the treasurer, to be paid out of the 
funds rai-ed for building purposes. But when the treasurer went to make his 
annual settlement with tiie audi or of the county, the auditor refused to allow the 
order aforesaid as a charge against the school house fund, on the ground that it 
was properly chargt-ahle to the township, and should be paid from township funds. 
Was the decision of the auditor according to law ? 

Ans. — In my opinion, there is no room for serious doubt that the decision of the 
auditor is legally and eq lit^bly correct. The school law makes no provision for 
opening or making roads, or for any similar purpose. It provides for the purchase 
of sites, the erection and repair of school-houses, the payment of teachers, and 
other purposes directly and necessarily incidental to the maintenance of schools. 
But the expense of making or repairing roads can not be included among legitimate 
incidental expenses. The road spoken of should be paid for in (he same manner 
as though it had bten opened without any reference to the school in question. 

Qub s. 1 38 — The board of education in township consists of eight members, 

exclusive of the township clerk. At a recent meeting there were present four 
members and the clerk, making five in all. Was that a legal meeting for the 
transaction of business ? 

Ans. — Section 20 of the school law says that a majority of the members of the 
board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The township 
clerk is not entitltr^d to a vote in the board, and is not a member thereof, except 
for clerical purposes. As four members do not constitute a majority of eigiit, a 
quorum was not present, and no business could be transacted. 

QuES. 139 — Our town, previous to the passage of the Akron school law, was 
divided into four school aistiicts ; after the passage of that law, one district, 
although we were an incorporated village, adopted that law. After the passage 
of the act of 1849, the oiher three districts organized under that act; but the one 
dis'rict under the Akron law refused to come in. Can an) part of an incorporated 
village organize itself into a school district under the Akron law ? 

Ans. — Without hesitation I answer this question in the negative. See Ohio 
School Laws, chap, iv., pp. 46 and 47. 

QuES. 140. — The board of education in have appropriated $400 for build- 
ing a school-house in one of the sub-districts. The people in the neighborhood 
propose to subscribe enough more to build a large house with an upper room for 
a high school. Some object, on the ground that the State fund and individual 
donations can not be applied together for build ng purposes. Is this objection well 
taken and valid ? 

Aks, — I see no valid objection to building a school-house in the manner pro- 
posed. Section 68 of the school law gives boards of education authority to receive 
donations for the benefit of the schools under their charge. The house, when 
completed, must be controlled by the board of education. 

QuES 141. — An agent for the sale of Mitchell's outline maps visited town- 
ship and called upon a majority of the members of the board of education, and 
induced them to sign a blank contract for the purchase of ten sets of maps, at $12 
per set. The conditions upon which these signatures were obtained was th^it the 
agent should secure the names of all the members, and that a mf eting of the 
board should be called for confirming the c ntract. But, without visiting all the 
members, he filled out the blank, delivered the maps to the towhship clerk, pro- 
cured from him an order on the treasurer of the township for $120, to be paid, 
with interest, one year after date. The agent then sent to each member of the 
board a printed notice to attend a meeting called by him for the purpose of con- 
firming the contract. He then, taking with him the order upon the treasurer, left 



136 

the township. The board met at the time named in the call, and, after due con- 
sultation, voted not to confirm the contract. The clerk was instructed to inform 
the agent that his maps were not wanted, and his order would not be paid, inas- 
much as it had been obtained by misreprest^ntation. 

1st. Have boards of education authority for purchasing maps or other apparatus, 
and paying for them from public funds? 

2d. When maps are purchased, to be paid for out of the funds to be raised the 

following year, will the new board of education be under obligation to recognize 

such purchase, and provide for payment in their estimates to the count}* auditor? 

3d. Is a contract, like the one named, binding, unless confirmed by a regular 

meeting of the board ? 

4 th. Can the agent compel the treasurer to redeem the order mentioned ? 
5th. In case the order is not paid from school funds, are the members of the 
board who signed the contract in blank, individually liable for the paj^ment ot the 
amount ? 

Ans. — Numerous statements and inquiries like the above have reached this 
department from the northern and central portions of the State ; and I am led to 
believe that very many transactions like the case mentioned have occurred. ii.nd 
I wish, once for all, to give my opinion upon the several points. 

1st I have no doubt that section 22 of the general school law authorizes the 
purchase of apparatus, to be paid for from the school funds. The language, ** and 
Jor any other school purpose other than the payment o1 teachers, ^^ is abundantly suffi- 
cient to include so necessary an auxiliary to instruction as a set of good outline 
maps. 

2d. I have no hesitation in givmg an affirmative answer to this inquiry. 
Boards of education are bodies corporate, and they cannot repudiate the just and 
legitimate claims which have arisen by the action of their pred^cessors in office. 

3d. Most certainly not. It was not the hoard of education which a.ted in the 
matter, but a portion of its individual members, each acting separately. There is 
nothing in the school law which warrants the transa tion of business in this man- 
ner Wection 12 provides for holding regular and special meetings, at which all 
business must be transacted. A question similar to this has been adjudicated in 
our courts, and it was decided that exact conformity to tne l^.w in all such matters 
is essential to validity. As well might a party draw up a verdict in an important 
case, and visit the jurymen at their separate residences and obtain their signatures, 
without the holding of a court, or the trial of the case. As well might a party 
prepare a bill and visit the members of our Legislature at their homes and per- 
suade them to subscribe it, and then call it a legislative enactment. 

4th. He cannot. It is competent for the board of education to countermand 
the order. 

5th. It is my opinion that they are not. The agent well knew that these indi- 
viduals had no idea ol incurring personal responsibility. He assured them that 
the contract would be void unless approved and confirmed at a legal meeting of 
the board. 

QuES, 142. — The board of education in township employed a man to give 

instruction in singing to all the schools in the township. He vi-iled four schools 
daily, spending three-fourths of an hour in each school. He held a legal certificate 
of competency lor teaching the ordinary branches, vocal music included It is 
now claimed by some that his employment for such a purpose was illegal ; and the 
treasurer has been warned not to pay the amount due him ; though there is money 
in the treasury applicable to the payment of teachers, sufficient to pay all orders 
that may be drawn against it. 

Was the action of the board in the employment of a music teacher legale and if 
so, «vhat course shall be pursued in the matter ? 



137 

Ans — 1 . Section 17 of the school law gives to boards of education authority to 
determine what studies shall be pursued in the schools under their charge. Most 
certainly, then, they can prescribe singing, or vocal music, as a branch of study. 
Having the authority to direct that singing shall be taught in the scho-ls, it is a 
manifest inference that it becomes their duty to make the necessary provision for 
impardug this instruction When it is advisable to place this branch ot education 
under the exclu ive charge of a teacher, it becomes the duty of the board to em- 
ploy such teacher ; and his salary should be paid from the same fund fr m which 
the other tenchers in the township are paid When the board of education directs 
the clerk to draw an or ler in favor of the teacher, it is my opinion that it is the 
duty of rhe treasurer to pay the order, — that he has no option or discretion in the 
case, unl' ss he is legally enjoined from paying. 

2. Custom, in numerous cases throughout the State, favors the vie«v of this 
subject which I have already given There are very many boards which for years 
have em .lo>ed special teach rs for giving instruction in singing, penmanship, etc., 
and their authority for so doing I have never heard questioned. There are few^ 
if any, branches of education mcr*- desirable and important than vocal music, and 
I earnestly wish that every board in the State would follow your example. 

You ask the le^al course for your board to pursue. If payment has been en- 
joined, of course the treasurer can do nothing till the injunction shall be dissolved. 
If paym nt has not been enj »ined, and the treasurer refuses to discharge his duty, 
he can be compelled thereto by a writ of mandamus. 

QuES. 1 43 — In the event a teacher is dismissed during the term of his school 
for good or even sufficient cause, by the directors, and he recover for the time he 
has taught, or for the whole time he contracted to teach, are the directors bound 
to refund to the treasury the amount so received ? 

Ans - The above question is answered in the negative. See supplemental sec- 
tion 2, of the general school law, passed April 17, 1867. 

QuES. 144 — 1 he following questions have recently been addressed to this 
office : 

The school in are organized under the law for ** schools in cities and towns," 

passed February 21, 1849 The board established a rule that its president should 
have no vote, except in case of a tie. 

Is this rule in accordance with the statute ? 

Ans — It is not. Section 4 of the act requires "that said directors, within ten 
days af'er iheir appointment, shall meet and organize by choosing ^rom their num- 
ber a president," etc. The president is not merely a presiding officer ; he is an 
elected memoer of the board. By accepting an office in the board, he forfeits no 
right previously posses'-ed His case is like that of the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives in our General Assembly. The House could not, lawfully, make 
a rule prohibi ing him to vote. The board would do well to repeal the rule, 
though the president is not bound by it in any case. 

Section lU of the school law declares that a majority of the members of the 
board of education shall constitute a q- orum for the transaction of business. 

QuEs. 145 — Should the township clerk, who is clerk of the board, be counted 
in constitutmg a quorum? 

Ans. — As the clerk is not entitled to vote, he is not, strictly speaking, a member 
of the bo-trd of educntion, but rather the clerk of the b^ard It is, therefore, my 
opinion that he should not be taken into account, in deciding whether a quorum is 
present. It is true that the first clause of the first sentence of the sectio.. makes 
the township clerk a member of the board ; but the second clause so modifies the 
first as to justify the opinion which I have given. Our township clerks are, doubt- 
less, among the mostiinteiligent and competent members • f our board of education, 
and I think it would be well if the law had entitled them to vote, thus putting 
them on an equality with the other members. But, as the law is, they are like 



138 

the clerks of common councils in our cities. I would not, howe^'er. be understood 
as saving that these clerks may not take part in the diircussions whi h may arise 
in the board Whether the law entitles them to this privilege is a matter of some 
doubt. Siill, it is both proper and important that boards shoiiM av il themselves 
of the counsel which their clerks are competent to give. Furiherraore, it is my 
opmion that they are so far members of boar^is as to render it proper that they 
be appointed acting managers of schools for the townships. 

QuES 146. — If neither the township boards nor the local directors establish 
rules and regulations for the government of schools, have teachers ar ght to make 
such rules and regulations ? 

Ans. — Most certainly. It is not only their right, but also their duty. A school 
without any plan of government would be not only lawless, but useless. 

QuKS 147. — The boards of education of G. aod C townships, upon the line of 
which is situated the village of P., organized a joint sub district corr^prising said 
village. Each township made its due appropriation for building a school house. 
The Board of G township authorized the local directors to select a site and build 
the house. Now, the centre of the sub-district is in C township, and a large pro- 
portion of the inhabitants of the village are dissat s6ed with trie siie selected. They 
think that it should have been in C. township, which furnished 1,280 acres of the 
joint sub-district, while G. furnished but 1,120. 

What is the law applicable in this case ? 

Ans — There is no law directing in which of two fractions the school house shall 
be loi-ated Common sense and equity indicate that both boards of education 
should unite in designating the site. Certainly either board, regardless of the 
other, has no right to dictate in the case. Perhaps it would be well for the boards 
to subnr.it the question of location to the decision of the inhabif,r.i)ts in the joint 
sub-diatrict. It is my opinion that the number of acres in either fraction does not 
necessarily affect this question. Other facts, such as population, the most suitable 
ground, etc., should be taken into consideration. 

QuES. 148, — Has the county auditor power to refuse a township treasurer credit 
in his settlement for orders which he (the auditor) may in his judgment think to 
be illegally drawn on the school funds ? Is a county auditor ju^tltiHble in passing 
orders on any of the school funds when they do not i^pecify what the money was 
used tor ? For example, " Pay A. B. ten dollars out of the contingent fund. G. 
D., Tp. Clerk." Such an order as the above does not say whether the ten dollars 
was expended for wood, rent, or what. 

Ans — The auditor of the county is the legal guardian of the school funds of 
his county, and it is his duty to refuse to credit township treasurers for orders 
which, in his judgment, have been illegally drawn on school funds 

He should also refuse to give credit tor orders which do not specify for what the 
money t as been used. Such orders, however, may be corrected by the township 
clerk, and then allowed by the auditor 

QuES. 149. — The board of education in have established a rule which for- 
bids the communicating of pupils during school hours, without special permission 
from the teacher in charge. The penalty for infraction of this rule is as follows : 
First offense, suspension from the school for one day ; second offence, suspension 
for one day ; third offense, suspension for two weeks. The legalify of the penalty 
being disputed by an aggrieved party, and doubted by some m^ mbers of the board 
of tducaiton, the opinion of the school commis:-ioner is solicite » upon the subject. 

Ans. — It is my opinion that boards of education have legal auihonty to estab- 
lish such a rule, and decree the specified penalty. Section 13 of the school law 
makes it the duty of boards "to prescribe rules and regulations f r the govern- 
ment of all the common schools within their jurisdiction.*' Section 16 gives them 
authority " to suspend from their schools any pupil found gu Ity ot disorderly con- 
duct, which suspension shall not extend beyond the current session of the school." 



139 

• 

I have answered the point upon which my opinion is solicited ; but I deem it 
proper to avrtil myself of so appropriate an occasion for expres.ving my views in 
regard to the neces-ity, expediency and propriety of the action of the board in the 
case under consideration A transaction m«y be legal, bui inexpeHieut and unjust ; 
and such, it seems to me, is the penalty prescribed for the < fft-n e stated. 1 fully 
believe that "the communicating of pupils during school hours without special 
permission from the teacher in charge,'* should be (orbidden, nud, by appropriate 
means, prevented. But I do not believe that in all ordinary cases it is either ne- 
cessary or wise to suspend a pupil from school, as a penalty for this offense. I 
admit that it is a very easy way lor the teacher to admiuiser discipline ; and if the 
object of our schools is to promote the ease and indolence of their teachers, I 
know of no better way for accomplishing this purpose. The same rule might be 
made applicable to families, and the child which should three times disobey the 
law of the household be suspended from home for two weeUs. I do not believe 
that such a practice, either in the family or the school, would prove reformatory of 
character. 

Among the numerous objections which might be urged against the practice of 
repeated and extended suspensions from school, I will name the following : First. 
It is productive of injury to the pupils suscended, and to tl eir classmates. During 
their absence of two weeks, they will not be likely to study the lessons of their 
classes. They will be without instructors, and wh* n they return to their schools 
they will find themselves far behind in their studies ; and thus they will prove 
dead weights and hindrances to their classmates. Second In many cases, this 
penalty wdl be an inducement for committng the offens*^ against which it is de- 
signed to guard. There are in most of our schools boys wi o have an admiration 
for vacations. They are not all of them vicious and incojrigible ; but are much 
more fond of play than of study. '1 hey would not commie what th y esteem a 
crime for the sake of a vacation, but when sixteen holidays are the promised reward 
of what they esteem three venial oflPenses, the temptation is so strong that they 
become its victims. And when penalty becomes an ioducem nt to wrong-doing, 
the \di.w promAes the evil which it was designed io prevent. Third This rule and 
its penalty may become an offense and a grief to parents. They wish their chil- 
dren to be instructed in school, and are willing that they should receive ail needed 
and appropriate correction and punishment. But when they are required by law 
to contribute to the support of schools, and when they contrive to spire th^ir chil- 
dren from home in order that they may receive instruction, it is not strange that 
they should object to rules which are liable to keep their young sons and daughters 
away from school much of the time. 

In conclusion, I have a word for teachers upon the subject under discussion. 
There is for them a more excellent way for the correction and nee d ml discipline of 
the children who are committed to their care, than banishment from school. Wise 
teachers, tl oughtlul, conscientious and earnest teachers, can and will invent meas- 
ures for the maintenance of good order in school, without resorting to a style of 
punishment which is in imminent danger of subjecting them to the charge of in- 
dolence or cowardice. Let them bravely, yet with kmdness, meet the difficulties 
incident to school government, let them care most of all for the present and future 
welfare of their otfending pupils, and let them exercise a gieat deal of practical 
common sense, aid they will seldom experience either the disposition or the neces- 
sity of executing a penalty so objectionable as the one which 1 have considered. 

I would not be understood as denying that there may be extreme cases in which 
the infliction of this penalty may be the best thing that can be done. 

QuEs. 160. — In the latter clause of section 32, it is provided that village boards 
of eoucation and township boards of education mjy agree to iransltr lerriiory not 
included in the village to or Irom the village, etc. 

In section 36, \. is provided that •* all taxes lor Luilding, purchasing, rep airing 



140 

• 

etc., shall be equally assessed on all the property subject to taxation in such city 
or tnco'iporaud village,^' etc. Now suppose ihe two boards, village and ti wnsbip, 
annex territory under section 32, and the village board build a school-house in 
the village, can the village board assess tax on the territory annexed, to pay for 
its construciion ? 

Aks. — It is my opirion that the village board can assess tax on the territory 
annexed to pay for building a school-house in the village You will s^e in section 
32 that the territory annexed becomes a part of the school district, as much so as 
the vilJ;ige itself. So far as school matters are concerned, ii is a part of the *' city 
or incorporated village," and must therefore be subject to taxation for all school 
purposes. In any other view of the case, the annexed territory would enjoy an 
exemption from taxntion unknown to any other property in the State, since the 
towubbip within which it is situated has no control over it m respect to schools. 

It is my opii ion that the failure to insert the words *' territory annexed*' in the 
last sentence of stction '^b was either an oversight in drafting the law, or that it 
was thought to be uniecessary, for the reason that said territory had already been, 
in efiect, declared to be, for school purposes, a part of the city or village 

Qdes 161. — Can a joint sub-district be formed of territory fcituaied in different 
counti* s ? 

Abs. — Most cer'ainly. Section 16 of the school law provides that, whenever it 
may be desir- ble to tt^tablish a school composed of parts of two or more townships, 
the respective boards of education of the townships interested fchall proceed to 
organize the requisite joint sub-district. Inasmuch as the law does not forbid the 
formation of ^uch sub-districts from fractions of diffeient tidjoining counties, and 
inasmuch as tiiere is often a necessity for such joint sub-aistricts, obviou 1} it was 
the intention of the law that county lines should be no hindrance to such trans- 
actions 

Qdes 152, — In township, the board of education passed a resolution that 

male teaches should be paid but twenty dollars a month, and female teachers ten 
dollars a month. C;ompetent teachers can not be procured at these rates, and the 
direciois of some of the sub-r^istricts refuse to be bound by the resolution of the 
boaid. They contend that the board has no right to dictate in the mauer, and are 
emplo3ing teachers a rates in advance of those named in the resolution Does 
the law confer upon boards the right to limit the amount ot wages which local 
directors may pay teachers? 

Ans — Section 6 of the statute makes it the duty of the local directors "to em- 
ploy teachers, and to certify the amount due them for services." This certainly 
implies hat the directors have the power to determine the amount which shall be 
paid to the teachers ot the schools under their care. 

But section 13 gives boards authority to "prescribe rules and regulations for 
the government ol all the common schools unner their jurisdiction." They are to 
exercise general supervisory care and direction of alt the schools If there shall 
arise y in any case, a necessity J or the exercise of a controlling 'power over local directors 
in regard to the expenditure vfjunds, they have^m my opinion, a legal right so to do. 
The practice should be this : — Boards of education should provide funds for 
keeping up schools tor at least six months during each year. Local directors 
should employ compe'ont teachers, and pay such wwges as may be necessary to 
secure such teachers. If they exercise due economy and discretion, they should 
not be ii terfered with by the board. But if any of them make an extravagant 
and wasteful use of the funds apportion«rd to their sub-districts, thus rendering it 
impossible to sustain their schools for six months, it tnen becomes the duty ot the 
board to prescribe the requisite restrictions But they should never put the pay 
for teachers so low as to make it impossible to insure good schools. The rates 
named in the case presented are niggardly as a general rule, though they may be 
fair in exceptional cases. It is not always right to pay uniform rates to the sev- 



141 

eral teachers in a township. I admit that, as a general truth, a school containing 
thirty pupils needs as good a teacher as one containing a g'^eater number. Still, 
in some instances it becomes necessary to employ a more expensive teacher for 
the larger schools. The work to be done requires more tact, energy, activity and 
physical endurance ; and it is proper and just that such a teacher should receive 
a higher compensation than one in a school which does not demand these qualifi- 
cations to so great an extent. 



As numerous inquiries are addressed to this office, which the following decision 
answers, I repablisn it in order to save the writing of numerous letters. 

Martha Hale vs. Sub- School- District No. 12 of Euclid Township. Cuyahoga 
Common Pleas, February term, 1860. 

Opinion by Judge Bishop. — The petition states that on *he 14th day of Febru- 
ary, J 859, Adams and Russell, being two directors of defendant, for and in its 
behalf made a contract with plaintiff to teach for defendant a school for four 
months, commencing on the first Monday of May, 1859, at $4 50 per week; that 
on the first Monday of Miy, 1859, the plaintiff was ready and offered to teach as 
she had agreed to do, but the then directors of defendant refused to let her teach, 
and discharged her as such teacher, and she asks judgment for $72 for her wages 
for said four months, she having lost her time during that period. 

To this petition three defenses are interposed : 

1. The contract was made with two of the directors of the defendant, not at any 
regular meeting of the directors, but without the knowledge of the other director, 
named Miner, who was clerk of the district, and no notice whatever was given to 
said Vliner of the meeting of the dir ctors at which it was resolved to employ said 
plaintiff, nor did he have any knowledge of the contract, nor was any record made 
thereof. 

2. That the term of office of said Adams as director was to expire by the 12th 
of April, 1859, and did so expire, and one Mcllrath was elected in his place, and 
the old board had no right to employ a teacher to commence teaching at a time 
which was only to begin in May following, and could not bind the new board by 
their acts, thus in advance, as there was no emergency making it necessary for 
them to act thus 

3 The third defense it is not material to consider. 

T?he plaintiff demurs from these defenses. 

The first question is, can two directors of the district, acting separately from the 
other, and without notice to him, bind the district by their acts. 

The school law is very explicit. (Swan's Statutes, 836 ) Sec. 2 provides for 
election ot directors ; sec. 3 for an oath of office, and in case of vacancy in the 
board, by death or otherwise, the township clerk shall fill it ; sec. 4 provides that 
in case of a failure to hold an annual meeting to elect, a special meeting may be 
called by three voters of the district ; sec. 5 provides that a meeting of the direct- 
ors shall be called soon as practicable after the election and qualificsation of the 
directors, any two of whom shall be a quorum ; that one of iheir number shall be 
elected clerk, who shall preside at all official meetings, and record their proceedings 
in a book ; that the directors shall meet as often as they may think necessary for 
the transaction of business, and fill any vacancy in the office of clerk that may 
occur, and in his absence one of the other directors may act as clerk temporarily 
in his place; sec. 6 provides that the school directors shall take the management 
of the local interests of the district, employ teachers, certify the amount due them 
to the township clerk, etc. 

Now, would it seem that the Legislature, in being thus particular, meant some- 
thing. What was it ? 



142 

It has provided for the election of a full board, that that board shall be kept full, 
that a cleik shall be appointed, that a' record shall be k^pt, etc. In all this legis- 
lation the law iutt-nded all business should be done at formal meetings, and the 
proceedings recorded ; and altbough two may transact business, it must, be at a 
meeting, and the only formality dispensed with is the attendance of one of the 
directors. Ev^ry other requisition ot the law is to be observed. 

Bui in order t>> enable two directors to act in the absence ot the other, they must 
have notitied the other director of the meeting, either by personal notice of the 
time and place oi the meeting, or by leaving a written notice thereof at his resi- 
dence. In irnnsaciion of busmess by all similar bodies such is the law, and there 
is no reason why the transaction of business by school directors should form an 
exception. 

Try this case by that rule, and what is the result? You have a contract made 
at a wayside meeting, No Dotic« to ihe other director, Miner, who was clerk; no 
record made of the engagement with piaintiflf. and the whole kept secret until a 
new and lull board made a legal engagement with another teacher. 

1 do not think the law or public policy would tolerate such a transaction. I 
think the teacher is bound to know whether the trustees are acting according to 
legal requirem^ns or not. 

If she is Ignorant in fact, when two directors employ her, of their want of power, 
it does not lolhiw thrit she is remtdiless. She may have recourse against the 
directors individually, who have employed her. 



CIRCULA.R TO TEACHERS OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

Office of State School Commissioner, ) 
Columbus, June 1, 1861. j 

Section 18 of the general school law of the State is as follows: 

*'It shall be the duiy of the schoul t' acher to make out and tile with the township 
clerk, at the txpiraiion ot each term ot the school, a full and complete report of 
the whole number of scholars admitted to the school during such term, distinguish- 
ing betv\etn mnle and female, the average attendance, the books used, the branches 
taught, the nuuiber of pupils eUi^aiied in the study of each of said branches, and 
such other stali^tics as he may be required to make by the township board or local 
directors; and until such report sh .ll have been certified and tiled by the said 
teacher as a'uresaid, it shall not be lawful for said board or local directors to pay 
said teacber tor his or her services." 

From the b^gi niug of the operation of our school system, great difficulty has 
been expeii u ed in endeavors to gain full and reliable returns irom the counties. 
The KudiLors, v\ith justice, complam that boards of education do not furnish them 
with the tacts wiih which to make up their reports to this office. The boards com- 
plain that they are wiihout the requi-ite daia for making such reports as the law 
requires. Wiiere does th s miscniet originate? Let us seek the cause, and lay 
the ax to the root of this tree, so fruittul ot evil. It is a matter of great import- 
ance, and I call to it tbe careful con ideration of the teachers of the State. 

All the reports which the law req dres must begin with the leachers of our 
schools. Ii ihey obey the demnn Is oi ttie section already quoted, there will be 
little dithculty in securing all other r- qaisitc; statistics. Their duties lie at the 
fouudativm o the who e plan of tacts and tigures ; and it the toundaiion i* not sure, 
the eniire supeibiructure will be uncertain. 

It is the duty oi teachers to understand what is required of them, before they 
begin their ^choois. From the first day ot their terms, they s.iould carefully 
register those lacts from whicb their reports to the township clerks are to be pre- 



143 

pared. It may be that some of them will find no registers provided for making 
entries. Each sc>iool-room should be supplied with an appropriate book for this 
purpose; such, for example, as that published by Samson & Beer, of Znnesviile, 
and a copy of which c^n be seen at the offices of all the county auditors in the 
State. Bur if no better means can b':^ provided, each teacher can easily put 
together a tew sheets of p^per, and rule the same after the forms furnished in the 
**Ohio Schooi Laws," pp. 101, 2 and 3; twenty thousand copies of which have 
been distributed through the Stite. 

I ask all tHwchers to look upon this business as a duty bound upon them by 
lawful authoit^- The moral sense of all teachers should teach them that it is 
wrong and dishonorable to ask pay for their services till they have complied with 
the requirt-uiet)t.s of the law. 

Again, I H-k those tt^achers who hitherto have been delinquent in this matter, 
to retleet on ihe mischief thus occasioned. The purpose of the system of leports 
is defeated, and j^rtat interests are sacrificed to indifference and neglect 

Miy it not he hoped that they to whom this circular is addressed will resolve 
that in luiure there shall be no cause for complaint in regard to this subject? 



CIRCULAR TO SCHOOL OFFICERS. 

Office of State School Commissioner, ) 
Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 1, 1861. \ 

To-day a new school year begins. It seems to me proper that I should at this 
time commudicate frt^ely to local school auihorities my views and wishes in regard 
to the admini tration of our school system during the coming school year. 

So general nn intense is the popular excitement in regard to the condition of 
the country, ihii I have feared that the humble and ordinary duties pertaining to 
the management of school interests might be neglected by boards of education and 
other i-chool i/ffioers. This need not be the case, and it is exceedingly de-irable 
that all salutary and conseivative educational influences should have vigorous 
operati n. Th^ natural tendency of w^r in a country i^ to demoralize character. 
However necessary and just the war may be, there will incidenlally grow out of 
it many corrupting and de^^raviDg influences. To check these evils, and maintai* 
social and moral elevation of character, oar schools, as well as our churches, need 
to put forth their best endeavors. Let this great war terminate as it m y and 
when it may, there is reason to fear that the scars which it will leave upon the 
social and moral character of the people will be deformities which to wear away 
will require m^ny lo g years. But I am siti.sfied that, if parents, teachers, school 
officers and rehgious s icieties will faithfully meet the demands which this crisis 
layti upon them, very much may be accomplished to protect our children and youth 
from the diing-.rs lo which they are exposed. 

To boards of education, I beg leave to suggest that all due efforts should be 
made to rendrr the schools of the State efficient and salutary. Except in a very 
few cases, there will be no diminution of funds during the coming year. The 
amount which you will receive as interest on tunds iavested with the Scate, and 
the amount to be derived from the State levy, will be, at least, quite equil to the 
sum obtaiued from these sources during any former year. Unless your local levies 
hav : been very greatly reduc d, there can be no pecuniary necessity for a failure 
to r- nder jour schools what necessity demands they should be. And if there 
mu-t be retrenchment at any point, it would be better to defer fur a time the 
building of i ew school houses, rcither than greatly to abbreviate your school terms, 
or to employ leaiihers who can be had at greatly reduced salaries. 

I certamly do not wish to dictate to you, but most respectfully to suo-gest that 



144 

you have it in your power to render your schools far more efficient and valuable 
than some of them have been in former years. 

To the teachers of our schools, I have a few thoughts to suggest During the 
past summer a considerable number of our teachers have enlisted in the army, 
moved thereto by an earnest desire to serve their country. I honor the spirit 
which they have evinced, and I have no doubt that they will do honor both to 
their present and to their past professions; but whether their present employment 
is more important and conducive to the highest interests of the counir)/, I have 
my doubts, since first-rate soldiers for our armies are much more easily obtained 
than first- rate teachers for our schools. 

The office of teacher, always important, at the present time is far more neces- 
sary, and may be far more useful, than at periods when the range of the instruc- 
tion of children in schools is more limited than at present. Permit me to call your 
special attention to an article in the June number of the Educational Monthly^ upon 
"The War Excitement — What Use shall v^te make of it?" prepared by that 
experienced and honored teacher. Dr. A. D. Lord ; and also to bis address before 
the State Teachers' Association, found in the current number of the Monthly. I 
deem his suggestions to teachers of the utmost importance ; and I trust ihat you 
will faithfully execute the duties indicated. Never had teachers a fairer and fuller 
opportunity for serving their country and their God than at the present time. May 
you appreciate your high office, and be found equal to its demands. 

I am happy to know that in most of the localilit s from which I have information 
on the subject, there will be little or no diminution in teachers* salaries during the 
coming year. But this rule will have its exceptions, and, upon reflection, it has 
seemed to me that there may be many cases in which teachers should be willing 
that their salaries be reduced. Where their salaries heretofore have been libera], 
and where business suffers in consequence of the war, it is not unreasonable to 
ask teachers to share with others a common misfortune. Most of the merchants 
and mechanics in the State will be obliged to live upon half the income of former 
years. Many laboring men will be thrown out of remunerative employment. This 
state of things will be found to operate most seriously in villages and cities, where 
teachers lormerly have received the highest compensation for their services. In 
such cases it will be no hard ard unjust treatment if salaries are reduced. 

County auditors, boards of education, county school examiners and principals 
of teachers' institutes are hereby reminded of the importance of promptness in the 
preparation and transmission of their annual reports, the blanks for which were 
forwarded from this office early in August. 

I trust that all auditors will see to it that the blanks for boards of education be 
forwarded without delay. Several townships last year came near losing their 
school funds by failure to make tne reports which the law requires; and in regard 
to several of them, I at last learned that blanks were not sent them by the auditor 
of their county. 

Boards of education will find the blanks for their use so exceedingly simple that 
they can have no difficulty in filling them out. They should remember that their 
reports are due at the offices of the auditors of their respective counties as early 
as the first day of October. Eighteen townships would last year have failed to 
share in the school funds of the State, on account of neglect to make reports, had 
not the General Assembly passed a special act for their relief. 

N. B. — Auditors are particularly requested to see that their reports are carefully 
footed before sending them to this office. 



145 

CIRCULA.R TO LOCAL DIRECTORS. 

Offick of State School Commissioner, ) 
Columbus, October 1, 1861. j 

Iq this circular, I wish to address the boards of local directors throughout the 
State. 

The office of local director is esteemed by many as very humble, and there are 
not a few of our citizens who look upon it as unworthy of their acceptance. The 
territory over which each board exercises authority is exceedingly limited, fre- 
quently embracing not more than the tenth part of a township. Such boards have 
no corporate powers, and, practically, they are little more than temporary legal 
committees in sub districts. The law provides no payment for their services, and 
in many cases the remuneration of thanks, even, is withholden from them. 

But humble and profitless to the h 4der as this office may be, it is, nevertheless, 
one of unspeakable importance ; one in which the present and prospective interests 
of the State are most seriously involved, and one which dem^.ncls a good degree 
of business capacity and the most conscientious fidelity. Tbe forty thousand local 
directors in Ohio have the employment of all the teachers, and thn direct care and 
supervision of all the schools of the S:ate that are organiztjd under our general 
school law. If faithful to the trust committed to their char-e, our schools will 
rarely fail to work out results most beneficial to individuals, and to every public 
interest. The two million dollars expended in the payment of teachers' salaries 
will prove a wise and profitable investment. But if our local directors do not ap- 
preciate their office and wisely perform their duties, in vain will it be that the people 
pay this vast amount for the support of schools, and vain will be all the expecta- 
tions which have been centered in our school system. 

These considerations lead me to ofifer words of respectful counsel to those whom 
I now address : 

1. You should employ no teachers who have not, at the time of their emplaymerUf 
legal certificates o/ the required quibfications. The disregard of the requirement 
ot the statute in this particular, has been the cause of numerous difficulties and 
of great damage to school interests. Section 45 of the law is definite and de- 
cided on the subject, and I know of no sufficient reasons for violating this neces- 
sary and jus!i rule. The first question which you should put to apalicants for 
positions in your schools is. Have you a legal certificate of qualifications ? If in any 
case a negative answer shall be given to this inquiry, the applicant should be sum- 
marily rejected ; for if he is so ignorant as not to know that it is improper for 
him to apply for employment before he can iurnish you the required evidence of 
his w<^rthiness of your confidence, he is not fit for the position which he seeks. It 
is high lime that this kind of ignorance should be no longer winked at. But if 
the applicant knows that you are forbidden to employ one who has not at the time 
a legal certificate, he virtually sohcits you to commit the crime of perjury, since 
he is aware that you have taken a solemn oath not to do that which he would 
tempt you to do. In many instances teachors have been employed, and have 
taught for weeks, previous to their examination ; and when the day of trial came, 
have failed to receive certificates ; or have, by indulgent examiners, been suflFered 
to pass, simply because trouble would thus be avoided, and not because they 
were qualified to teach. It should be remembered by all parties concerned that 
township clerks have no legal right to draw orders, in payment of teachers, for 
time not covered by certificates of qualifications, granted by lawful examiners. 

2. When teachers are employed, written contracts should be entered into betioeen 
the Contracting parties. A convenient form of agreement may be found on page 64 
of the present edition of school laws. By this course misunderstanding and 
litigations will be avoided. Hundreds of letters have come to this office, askiocr 
advice in cases of difficulfy which have arisen from diverse interpretations of 

10 



146 

unwritten agreements between directors and teachers. If teachers are hired by 
the month, the number of days to be included in one month should be specified. 

3. It should never be forgotten that teachers should be employed only hy the 
action of all the local directors. That is, all the members should be notified of 
meetings to be held for the purpose of employing teachers, and the action had 
should be duly recorded. If two of the directors happen to meet, they have no 
Tight to transact official busiuess. A mere way-side meeting is not what the law 
contemplates, or allows. See the opinion of Judge Bishop, in the Cuyahoga 
Common Pleas, February term, 1860, published in the June number of the Ohio 
Educational Monthly for that year. 

4. Within a few weeks, teachers will be employed for nearly all the sub-dis- 
trict schools in the state. I suggest that, in all practicable cases, the same teacher 
he employed for both the winter and the summer school. I am aware that there are 
sub- districts in which this course can not be pursued. But the advantages of a 
permanent teacher are so many and great that I am exceedingly desirous that the 
popular practice of frequent changes should cease, in all possible cases. These 
advantages are so apparent to all who reflect upon the subject as to need no defi- 
nite statement. It is a practice in some portions of the state to employ men, ex- 
clusively, to teach the winter schools, and women the summer school?. There 
may be instances in which this course is proper and necessary ; but, as a general 
rule, it is neither proper nor necessary. 

5. Please remember that the best qualified teachers are^ in the end, the cheapest, 
•and that incompetent teachers always cost more than they are worth. The few addi- 
tional dollars per month, requisite to secure the services of a thoroughly qualified 
instmctor of your children, are most profitably invested. 



CIRCULAR TO TOWNSHIP CLERKS. 

Office of State School Commissioner) 
Columbus, Ohio, April 1, 1862. ]" 

During the present month, all our Township Boards of Education will be reor- 
ganized. To a greater or less extent they will be composed of new members, 
who will need carefully to inform themselves in regard to their official duties. 
This is particularly true of the township clerks, as the school law renders theirs 
far the most important of all our township offices An experience of five years 
in the superintendence of the schools of the State, has led me to believe that 
many of the township clerks enter the office with very limited ideas of the duties 
they will be called to discharge. It is also evident that not a few of them have 
been deficient in business qualifications ; consequently our school interests have 
suffered damage. There are many townships which would, through the negli- 
gence of their clerks, have lost or forf ited their school funds, during the past 
year, but for my oversight and intervention. And fcr these reasons I deem it 
proper to address these officers at this time, when many of them are just assum- 
ing their untried duties. 

Section 10 of the school law says : 

" That the township board of education shall consist of the township clerk, and 
of ihe local director from each sub-district of the township, who has been ap- 
pointed clerk in his sub-district, a majority of whom shall constitute r quoram 
for the transaction of business ; and the clerk of the township shall be clerk of 
the board, but shall not be entitled to a vote. It shall be the duty of said clerk 
to be present at the meetings of the board, and to recoid in a book, to be pro- 
vided for the purpose, all their official proceedings, which shall be a public record, 
open to the inspection of any person interested therein ; and all such proceedings, 
when so recorded, shall be signed by the chairman and clerk." 



147 

Let me suggest that these records should be kept in a neat and business like naan- 
ner ; and that the book used for this purpose should be appropriate in size and style. 

But the most important duy which the clerks of boards of education have to 
perf rm, relates to the preparation of the annual reportSt which are to be rendered 
to the auditors of their respective counties. 

Section 9 of the law sa^s that — 

*' It shall be the duty of the directors in each sub-district to take, or cause to 
be taken, annually, between the first and third Monday of September, an enume- 
ration of all the unmarried white and colored youth, noting them separately, be- 
tween the ages of five and twenty-one years, resident within such sub-district, 
and not temporarily there, designating between male and female, and return a 
certified copy thereof to the township clerk ; and in case the directors in any 
sub-district shall fail to take and return the enumeration aforesaid, it shall be the 
duty of the township clerk to employ a competent person to take the same, and 
allow him a reasonable compensation for his services ; and shall proceed to rer 
cover the amount so paid for such services in a civil action before any court hav- 
ing jurisdiction, in the name of the state of Ohio, against said directors in their 
individual capacity ; and in such suits said clerk shall be a competent witness ; 
and the money so collected shall be applied to the use of common schools io the 
proper township. The township clerk shall make an abstract of the enumeration 
so returned to him designating the number of youth in each sub-district, and 
transmit such abstract duly certified, to the county auditor, on or before the first 
day of October '* 

Section 19 says that — 

'• The board of education in each township shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, 
and forwarded to the county auditor, on or before the first day of October, a state- 
ment exhibiting the number of children in the township, between the ages of five 
and twenty one years, distinguishing between male and female ; the number of 
schools, specifying the diflerent grades ; the number of teachers, male and female ; 
the number of children, male and female, who have attended school during the 
past year ; the average attendance ; the length of the terms of schools ; com- 
pensation of teachers, male and female ;" etc. 

For the preparation of this report, the boards will depend upon the clerks. 
Many of our county auditors have complained that the reports which they receive 
from townships are so defective and poorly prepared as to be nearly worthless. 
Now, there can be no sufficient excuse for this dehnquency. The blanks which 
are to be filled are as simple as possible ; and any one who can write, and per- 
form the simplest examples in arithmetic, will find no trouble in making the report 
which the law requires, provided he is in possession of the requisite data. This every 
clerk has in his bands, unless he has disregarded the requirements of the statute. 

Section 18 says that — 

*' It shall be the duty of the school-teacher to make out and file with the town- 
ship clerk, at the expiration of each term of the school, a full and complete report 
of the whole number of scholars admitted to the school during such term, distin- 
guishing between male and female, the average attendance, the books used, the 
branches taught, the number of pupils engaged in the study of each of said 
branches, and such other statistics as he may be required to make by the town- 
ship board or local directors ; and until such report shall have been certified and 
filed by the said teacher as aforesaid, it shall not be lawful for said board or local 
directors to pay said teacher for his or her services." 

Let the clerk refuse to draw an order for the payment of teachers till their 
repo/t has been furnished, and he will at all times have at hand materials for the 
report which section 19 requires. Should local directors, through igcoraot^e or 
carelessness, certify teachers' bills, still the clerk should refuse to draw an order 
on the treasurer till the proper report has been filed with him. 



148 

The liability of clerks is set forth in section 25 of the statute, which is as follows : 

**Tbe clerk of the board of education, or any one or more of the board desig- 
nated for that purpose, or the acting manager of schools of the towitship may ,10 
and perform all such duties and services connected with the interests of schools as 
the board may direct, and report the same to the board for their action and ap- 
proval ; and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the board to keep a full record 
thereof, in connection with the records of the other oflScial proceedings of the 
board ; and in cas^e of failure to keep such record, or other records required by 
this act, the clerk of the board shall be liable in a civil action for all loss or dam- 
ages that may ensue to any person or persons, or to the school district, in the 
name of such person or persons, or board of school directors, as the case may be, 
and shall, moreover, be liable, on complaint filed in the name of the State of Ohio, 
before any justice of the peace, or other court having jurisdiction, to a fine not 
exceeding one hundred dollars, which, when collected, shall be paid over to the 
treasurer of the proper township, for the benefit of schools*' 

I aho refer c'eiks to section 23, in which they will find further instruction in 
regard to their duties. 

Should the reports to which attention has been cal'ed, not be rendered as re- 
quired, there will ensue to the townships a forfeiture of all school funds. 

Sfcnon 67, in its conclusion, says : 

V'Nor shall it be lawful for any county treasurer to pay over any portion of the 
school fund to any lojal treasurer, board of education, or other school officers, of 
any city, township, or village, organized as to schools either under a general or 
a special law, except on the order of the auditor of the proper county ; and no 
8uch order shall be drawn by the county auditor, unless the local treasurer, clerk, 
recorder, or secretary of such board, or other school officer, shall first deposit with 
said auditor, annually, an abstract of the enumeration of scholars and other statis- 
tics relative to the schools under their charge, as required by this act, of teachers, 
local directors, and boards of education in townships " 

Let me say to the gentlemen whom I address, that I am exceedingly anxious 
that the reports for the current jear should be complete f^nd reliable. Every clerk 
should be sure to have his report in the hands of the county auditor as early as 
the first day of October. The necessary blanks will be sent to all the auditors in 
August; and if any clerk shall fail to receive a copy in due time, let him call or 
send for one. 

The foreg< ing instructions are applicable to the clerks or recorders of cities and 
incorporated villages. See section 34. 



SPECIAL NOTICE TO AUDITORS OF COUNTIES. 

?y my circular to clerks of townships, you have learned that I am particularly 
anxious that all school reports should this year be rendered with promptness. For 
this 1 have the best of reasons, which need not be specified. Permit me to request 
that jou urge upon boards of education in your respective counties the importance 
of strict obedience to the requirements of the law in this regard. There can be 
no. good reason for the failure of a single district to render its report at the speci- 
fied time. 

N. B — Please make up your reports to this department as early as the time 
fixed by the statute — the fitth day of November. A later day will be too late, 
since it will be impossible for me to delay the completion of my report, however 
many counties nnay be delinquent. Avy report which shall not reach this office as 
early as the eighth day of November^ will be too late for use 

^ ANSON SMYTH, 

State School Commissioner, 



IIJ) EX. 



CHA.PTER I. 

GENERAL SCHOOL ACT. 

FAQS 

ABSEN"CE of clerk of looal directors, his place to be filled 6 

of cle k of board of education 9 

ABSTRACT of enumeration to be returned to ooutty auditor 7 

oi school statistics to be returned to state commissioner 18 

ACTING M A.NAGER of schools, board may appoint 9 

ACTS, certain, not repealed , 24 

in force, how affected 24 

repealed , , 25 

ANNUAL ESTIMATES, to be made by board 11 

APPARA rUS, state commissioner to purchase 22 

provisions relating to , , .... 22, 23 

APPOINTMENT of local directors to fill vacancy 6 

of clerk of sub-districl 6 

ot librarian 10, 23 

of examiners . . . . » 1^9 

APPORTIONMENT OF SCHOOL FUNDS 17 

ASSIGNMENT OF SCHOLARS, board may make 9 

AUDITOR OF COUNTY, to assess estimates on taxable property 12 

duty as to tax on sub district 12 

duty as to certificate of treasurer's bond ^5 

duty as to settlement with township treasurer ^ 15 

when to prosecute township treasurer 15 

to apporoiou funds in county 17 

his r.-turn to state commissioner IS 

penalty for failing to report 19 

compensation 19 

liability 19 

to report to commissioner when required 21 

to distribute books and apparatus 22 

to assess for judgments against board 23 

AUDITOR OF STATE, to apportion school funds 17 

BOARD OF EDUCATION, to control and manage districts 5 

no jurisdiction in certain cities and vihages 6 

in cities and villages. (See Board of Education in Cities and Villages.) 

to preset ibe rules for local directors 7 

when consent to certain contracts necessary 7 

responsible for performance of certain contracts 7 

of whom to consist 8 

majority a quorum 8 

to v\ uship clerk ^ hall be clerk of 8 

body politic and corporate 8 

invested with title, » ar**, <fec., of school-houses and property 8 

may seil school property 8 

how conveyance executed 8 



150 

BOARD OF EDXJCKTIO^— Continued. page 

sessions ° 

control of central or high schools ^ 

■when to ace as local directors ^ 

to prescribe rules, &c., tor schools q 

may establish German schools ^ 



may appoint an acting manager ^ 

to prepare map of townsnip ^ 

may alter sub districts ^ 

may assign echolars to primary schools ^ 

to control admission to high schools ^ 

may suspend disorderly scholars ^ 

may establish schools composed of parts of several townships ^^ 

duty of board in such cases ' j|| 

to determine studies and books • ^^ 

to appoint librarian in 

required to report Jr 

to establish or modify graded schools r | 

power to establish central or high schools j r 

now to proceed in such cases .... ^ | 

to make annual estimate of expenditures 1 ' 

when to tax sub-district with cost of school-house, Ac. |^ 

to provide for six months' school in each sub-districo ^^ 

civision of duties ?* 

to settle with township treasurer • |^ 

to establish schools for c Jored children ^ • ^j 

to report to state commissioner when required ^^ 

accountable for books and apparatus <iistributed ^^ 

judgments against, for debts, to be assessed by county auditor • • •^ 

may hold real estate, Ac • 2* 

of village and township may unite in establishing central or high school ^' 

may condemn sehuol-house sites qq 

to receive no compensation for services 

BOARD OF EDUCATIOlSr IN CITIES AND VILLAGES -••• ^ 

power and duties same as township board J^ 

to divide city or village icto sub-districts }rl 

to eject one of th ir number clerk j!^ 

further powers of • |^ 

may establish evening schools ]^L 

to lective no compensation "^ 

BOARD OF EXAMINERS. (See Examiners.) 

BOND cf Ubrarian }J 

of township treasurer -^ J* 

certificate of amouLt of, to be furnished to county auditor *^ 

of city or village treasurer ^^ 

of state commissioner • • 

BOOKS, provisions relating to 10, 22, 23 

CENTR A.L SCHOOL, power of board over ^ 

board to control admission to • ^ 

board may establish ^| 

how established ^| 

township and village boards may unite in establishing « *]^ 

in such cases, how established and controlled * * 

CERTIFICATE of amount due teacher J 

that township treasurer has executed his bond J^ 

of auditor to township treasurer *^ 

of city tr asurer's bond J^ 

teacher's, to be granted by examiners ^^ 

teacher's, may be revoked • ^^ 

CHAIRMAN of sub di^-trict meeting to sign minutes 6 

of board of education to sign proceedings ° 

of board to preside at meeting relating to high schools 11 

CITIES, when not to be controlled by board of directors 5 

schools in 16,17,24 



151 

CLERK. (See Secretary of Sub -DUirict Meeting.) page 

of Bub-distriet to record proceedings of meeting «.«<»«* - ...... 6 

of sub district to certify to clerk names of local directors elected «..<*» 6 

of township. (See Township Clerk ) 

of sub district, who shall be > 6 

his power and duties * 6 

if absent, who to officiate 6 

of board of education. (See Township Cle:-k.) 

of board io city or village, his duties, <fec 16 

of city or village to furnish auditor certificate of treasurei's bond 17 

of board of examiners 20 

COLORED YOUTH, enumeration of, when and how taken 7 

schools for 15 

COMMISSIONER. (See State Commissioner.) 

COMPENSATION of county auditors for making returns 19 

board of education to receive noae 29 

penalty in case board violate act relative to 29 

fines under this act to be paid into township treasury 29 

CONTRACTS, how made 7 

CON VEY AN CE of school property, real estate, how to be made 8 

DEBTS of district, to be provided for 23 

DIRECTORS. (See Local Directors.) 

DISBURSEMENT of school funds 13 

DISMISSAL of teacher 7 

in case of, teacher can sue sub- district for what may be due 27 

DISORDERLY SCHOLARS may be suspended 9 

DISTRICTS, how composed 5 

ELECTION of local directors. 5 

of local directors, when special meeting shall be held for 6 

of state commissioner 20 

ENUMER ATION of youth, when and how taken 7 

abstract to be returned to auditor 7 

of youth 1 esiding in different survey s, how noted 7 

ESTIMATED, annual, certificate of 12 

EVENING SCHOOLS, provision relating to 17 

EXAMINERS, their appointment. 19 

term of office , , 19 

powers and duties * 19 

notice of meetings of 19 

certificate^ to teachers , 19 

may revoke the same , 19 

clerk of 20 

rules, Ac, of 20 

EXECUTION, what property exempt from 19 

FEES of examiners 20 

FINE for violating act allowing board no compensation 29 

FUEL, contracts relating to 7 

FUNDS, school, how distributed 13 

supervision of state commissioner over 21 

state 23 

GERMAN SCHOOLS, board may establish 9 

GRADED SCaOOLS, board may establish or modify 11 

HIGH SCHOOL, power of roard over , , 9 

board to control a dmission to 9 

board may establish H 

how established i^^^ H 

village and township boards rnay unite in establishing , 27 

in such cases, how established and controlled 27 



152 

PAGE 

INTE REST on section sixteen, how to be paid and apportioned IS 

JUDGMENT against school board, how to be paid 23 

LAWS, school, state commissioner to distribute * 21 

LIBRARIAN, school, how appointed. ^^.- 10,23 

state, secretary to commissioner (in tffect repealed) ..,.,,.. » 20 

LIBRARY, school. (8ee School Libraries.) 

LOCAL DIRECTORS, sub districts confided to their management 5 

no jurisdiction over certain cities and villages 5 

when, where and how elected , 5 

term of office 5 

may designate hour of annual election , 6 

in such case to give notice , 6 

offiaial oath 6 

authorized to administer oath to each other 6 

vacancy in, how filled 6 

elected at special meeting, terms of 6 

where, when and how to meet and organize 6 

may meet when necessary 6 

to take charge of interest of sub-district • ^ 

to employ teachers 7 

to certify amounts due teachers 7 

may dismiss teacner 7 

to visit schools 7 

to make contracts concerning school property, Ac, under certain restrictions 7 

to take enumeration 7 

when board of education to act as such 9 

duties as to libraries .... 22, 23 

MAP OF TOWNSHIP, board of education to prepare 9 

MEETING of local directors 6 

of local directors, clerk to preside at C 

for election of directors, when special one may be called 6 

MINUTES of sub-district meeting 6 

of sub-district meeting to be delivered to directors 6 

of board of education 8 

NOTICE of specific hour of holding election for directors 6 

of special meeting to elect directors 6 

of meeiing relative to high school 11 

of meeting of board of examners 19 

OATH of directors 6 

of state commissioner 20 

OFFICE of state commissioner shall be at seat of government • 20 

FFICERS school, process against 23 

duty of prosecuting attorney in Fuch cases 24 

PROBATE JUDGE to appoint school examiners 19 

PROCESS against school officers 23 

PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, his duty 24 

QUORUM, local directors, two constitutes 6 

board of education, majority constitutes ' 8 

RECEIPT of township treasurer • . 15 

RECORDER of city or village, to certify treasurer's bond to ctunty auditor 17 

to report to commissioner when requirea 21 

REPORT, to auditor, of enumeration 7 

teacher required to make 10 

of board of education 10 

of county auditor 18 

annval, of state commissioner, what it shall contain, etc » 21 

RULES AN D REGULATIONS, board of education to prescribe - . 9 

of board of examiners < • • • • 20 



16? 

FAOB. 

SALARY of state commissioner 22 

SCHOLA.RS, assignment of 9 

disorderly, may be suspended 9 

may be trinsferred to another township 10 

SCHOOL •» to be visited by local directors 7 

to be established in each sub-district 9 

to be continued six months 14 

for colored children 15 

in citieB and villages 16 

evening, provision relating to 17 

governed under other laws may accept this act 24 

SCHOOL DISTRIO i^S, regarded as sub districts 5 

what cities and villages are 16 

SCHOOL EXAMINERS. (See Exammers.) 

SCHOOL FUNDS, to be paid out on order of clerk 13 

provisions relating to 13 

apportionment of 17 

state commissioner's supervision over 21 

SCHOOL HOUSE, local airectors to contract for 41 7 

board ot education may sell , .* 8 

penalty for disfiguring or defacing 28 

S CHOOL LAWS, state commiesioner to distribute 21 

SCHOO L LIBRARIES, ace repealing tax for. (See Note at bottom of page.) 22 

distribution of books and apparatus 22 

librarian of 23 

"who accountable for preservation of 23 

who entitled to use of 23 

SCHOOL OFFICERS, process against 23 

duty of prosecuting attorney in such cases 24 

SECRETARY of sub-district meeting to prepare and sign minutes 6 

to state commissioner 20 

SECTION SIXTEEN, provision relating to 18 

interest thereon 18 

SETTLEMENT of board of education with township treasurer 14 

of county auditor with township treasurer 15 

SITES, school house, local directors to contract for 7 

Doard of education may sell 8 

exempt from execution 19 

may be condemned 28 

SPECIAL MEETING to be called to elect directors 6 

STATE COMMISSIONER, his election 20 

term of c fl5ce 20 

vacancy, how filled 20 

bond 20 

oath 20 

office to be at seat : f government 20 

his secretary 20 

duties in visiting each judicial district 21 

duties in purcha!<ing books and apparatus 21 

supervision over school funds 21 

may require reports of certain officers 21 

to prepare forms 21 

to distribute school laws 21 

to make annual report 21 

what report shall contain 21 

his salary , 22 

to purchase apparatus and books 22 

STATE LIBRARIAN, secretary to state commissioner {in <:fft<A repealed) 20 

STATIONERY OF EXAMINERS, county auditors to furnish 20 



154 

PAOE. 

STUDIES to be determined by board of education 10 

SUB DISTRICT, what is 5 

meetiog i d , to elect directors 5 

where, when and how held 5 

who may vote thereat 5 

how term of office dfetermined 5 

when to be determined by lot 5 

minutes to be signed 6 

if meeting not held at time prescribed, to be held afterwards 6 

when to contain not less than sixty scholars 9 

schools to be established in each 9 

when to be taxed with cost of school-house &c 12 

deb 8 in, to be provided for 23 

joint, not to be dissolved without mutual consent 27 

may be sued by teacher 27 

TAXES, provisions relating to 11, 12, 13, 22, 33 

TE A.CHER, to be employed by local director 7 

can be dismissed 7 

required to report 10 

not to be paid unless report is made 10 

how paid 13 

certificate of, to be granted by examiners 19 

certificate of, may be revoked 19 

in such case entitled to pay t^ time of dismissal 20 

may sue sub district 27 

TO WN8HI P, organized , compose one district - 5 

map of, to be prepared by board of education 9 

division of, for educational purposes 10 

TOWNSHIP BOARD. (?ee Board of Education^ 

TOWNSHIP CLERK, nam^s of local directors shall be certified to 6 

to fill vacancy in local directors , 6 

to draw order on treasury in favor of teacher 7 

to have enumeration taken in a certain event 7 

to transmit to county auditor abstract of enumeration 7 

member of board of education 8 

shall be clerk of said board of education 8 

his duties as such clerk 8 

if absent, one to be appointed 9 

shall ac , as clerk at meeting relating to high school 11 

liaDility for neglect of duty 14 

whfn to prosecute treasurer on his bond 14 

to make certificate of such bond 15 

to report to state commi eioner when required 21 

TOWNSHIP TREASURER, funds to be paid to 12 

board of education to settle with 14 

duties 14 

bond 14 

to be prosecuted by clerk on forfeiture of bond 14 

to furnish county auditor certificate of amount of bond 15 

his per centage 15 

to set le with auditor 15 

to deliver books, papers, etc., at end of his term 15 

receive one dollar for making annual settlement 15 

penalty against. 15 

to report to state commissioner when reqnired 21 

TREASURER OF CITY OR VILLAGE to receive and disburse school funds 17 

bond 17 

to report to state commissioner when required 21 

TREASURER OF COUNTY, his per centage on collections 12 

to report to state commissioner when required 21 

VACANCY in local directors, how filled 6 

in office of clerk, how filled 6 

in office of state commissioner, how filled 20 



165 

PAG». 

VILLAGE when not to be controlled by township board 5 

schools in 16 

VOUCHERS of township treasurer, to be examined by auditor ..^ 15 

YOU IH, enumeration of, how and when taken ^ 

CHAPTER IL — Akron school law, 29 — six directors shall be elected, 29 — board of education, 
officers, powers, etc , 29 — meetings of board, 30 — shall have control of common schools, 
etc., in Akron, 311 — number and grade of schools, admission of pupils, etc., 30 — power of 
board, 31 — town council to levy taxes for school purposes, 31 — reports of board, 31 — titles 
to board, 32— examiners of teachers and schools, 32— reports, 32— public examination of 
schools, 32— repealing clause, 32— extended to Dayton, 32 —right of repeal, 32. 

CHAPTER in. — Act to amend the Akron school law, 33 — amount of tax, 33 — powers of the 
board of education, 33 — duties of auditor and treasurer, 33 — repealing clause, 33. 

CHAPTER IV — Act extending the provisions of the Akron school law, 33 — all incorporated 
towns may organize under it, and how, 33 —election of directors, 34— how number of votes 
ascertained, 34 — r<^pealing clause, 34. 

CHAPTER V. — Additional amendments to Akron school law, 34 — boards of education may 
adopt certain laws, 34 — boards of education may establish German schools, 35 — certificate 
of examiner to state time such certificate shall be valid, 35 — no person to teach without 
certificate, 35. 

GHAPTEH, VI — General act for public schools in cities, towns, etc., 35 — what towns may 
be single school districts, 35— qualified voters to vote for or against the adoption of this 
act, 36 — manner of easting such vote, 36 — directors to be chosen, 36 — directors to organ- 
ize, 36 — their power aud duties, 36— meetings of tbe board, 37— money, how paid out, 37 
— school-houses, how built, 37 — board to establish primary schools, 37 — high schools, 37 
— branches to be taught, 37 — what scholars admitted. 37— general powers of the board, 
37 — how long schools to be kept in one year, 38 — school tax, how levied and co'lected, 
38 — not to exceed four mills on the dollar, 38 — board shall appoint school examiners, 38 
— duty of examiners, 38— acts repealed, 39— treasurer may collect charges for tuition, 39, 

CHAPTER VII — Act to amend the act for incorporation of cities, towns, ktc , 39 — certain 
appropriations not authorized, 39 — council may borrow money for school purposes, 39 — 
loan, how perfected, 40 — tchool buildings how constructed, 40. 

CHAPTER VIII. — Act to amend the general act for public schools in o:ties, towns, etc , 40 
— extending act, 40— single school districts, 40 — board of education, 40 —title to real es- 
tate to vest in board, 40 — board to have power to exclude children under six years of age, 
41. 

CHAPTER IX.— Act to provide foe the completion of certain contracts made by school 
directors, 41 

CHAPTER, X.— Act relating to common schools, 41 — transfers made valid, 42 — power to trans- 
fer, 42 

CHAPTER XI — Act providing for recording, printing, and distributing the laws and public 
documents, 42 — when official reports to be made, 42— school year, 42— reports ot state 
officers, 43. 

CHAPTER, XII.— Act TO encourage teachers' institutes, 43 — county commissioners may ap- 
propriate annual proceeds of surplus revenue, 43 — money to be paid to lecturers, and for 
library, 43— who shall have a right to attend the meetings of associations, 43 — county 
boards of examiners to report to secretary of state, 44. 

CHAPTER XIII. — Act to amend and extend an act to encourage teachers' institutes, 44 — 
former law made general, 44— ^former act in reference to libraries amended, 44. 

CHAPTER XIV. — Act to amend an act to encourage teachers' institutes, 44— county com- 
missioners may appropriate $100, 44 — may levy a tax, 45 — money, how and for what 
appropriated, 45 — not to be paid over until teachers raise half the amount asked for, 45 — 
supplementary act, 45. 

CHAPTER XV. — Act to regulate the sale op school lands, 46— section sixteen may be sold, 
46— how vote of citizens fchall be taken. 46 — trustees to petition court of common pleas, 
46— court to appoint appraisers, 46 — returns, etc., t^ be recorded, 47— county auditor to 
advertise sale, 4? — re- appraisement, 47 — in cases of permanent leases, etc., 47 — payments 
to county treasurers, etc., 48 — county auditor to report sales to auditor of state, 49 — inter- 
est apportioned, 49 — in case of failure of purchaser to pay, lands to be resoll, for cash, 
49 -purchaser to receive certificate, 49 — final certificate, 49— deed from the state, 49 — 
excess of money, how disposed of, 50 — fees, 50 — acts repealed, 50. 



156 

CHA.PTER XVI — Act to confirm salfs made by trustees of sBcrnoN sixteen, 51 — Act to 
REGULATE SALE OF MINISTERIAL AND SCHOOL LANDS, 51— may be sold OF permanent leases 
surrendered, 51. 

CHAPTER XVII, — Act to istablish a fund for the eurpoET of common schools, 52 — auditor 
of stttte the superintendeDt, 52 — how to keep account of funds from 6ale ot school lands, 
52— irreducible, 52 — rate of interest and account thereof, 52 — pledge for its payment, 52 
— appropriation, 53 — order, receipt, etc , 53 — distribution, 53 — donations and bequests, 
53 — general fund, 53 — state pledged for the interest, 53 — interest lunded until 1835, 53 — 
how distributed afterwards, 54. 

CHA-PTER XVIII, — Act to increase the general fund for support of common schools, 54 — 
proceeds of sales of swamp lands to be added, 54. 

CHAPTER XIX — Irreducible or spioial school funds, 55. 

CHAPTER XX — ,FoRMS 63 — minutes of sub-district election, 63 — notice of cub-district meet- 
ing, 63 — oath of directors, 63 — appointment of director by township clerk, 63 — sub-district 
mut-ting, appointment of clerk, etc, 64 — agreement between director and teacher, 64 — 
teacher's certificate for pay, 64 — order on township treasurer lor teacher's pay, 65 — dis- 
missal of teacher. 65~v;8it to school. 65 — contracts, 65— enumeration 1, 66 — enumeration 
2, 67— report of township clerk, 68— audit »r'a abstract of enumeration, 69 —deed, 70 — 
lease, 70 — apotintment of acting manager, 71 —assignment of scholars, 71 — appointment 
of librarian, 72— ^ond of libra'-ian, 72— teacher's daily register, 73— teacher's general reg- 
ister, 74 — teacher's report to township clerk, 75— central or high schools, 76 — certiticate 
of annual estimates, 7fi — order on treasury, 76 — bond for township treasurer, as treasurer 
of the school fund. 76 — certifijate of treasurer's bond, 77 — township treasurer's account 
* with toe several sub-districts, "78 — township treasurer's general account, on which to set- 
tle with county auditor, 79 — township treasurer's book of general accounts, 80 — vouchers, 
81 — final receipt of treasurer, 81 — appointment of school examiner, 81 — to teachers, 81 — 
school teachers certificate, 82 — revocation of teacher's certificate, 82 — register, to be kept 
by cltrk of county board of examiners, 83. 

CHAPTER XXI. — Answers to questions on the school law, 84 — township clerk, how paid, 
84, 8S— township boards authorized to determine text-books, and can confine their selec- 
tions to one author on each subject, 84— directors who dispute authority of board in regard 
to text-books, 84 — persons can be transferred when county line divides townships, 84 — 
primary schools, dtc , 84 — if certificate expires during a term, not good for whole term, 84 
— where scholars of a district are taught in private institution under authority ot directors, 
teachers of said institution must have certificates before being legally paid out of school 
fund, 84— township boards to prescribe rules and regulations for the governmentof schools, 
85 - township clerk may be appointed acting manager, 85 - township board has power to 
re-district a township, 85— persons over twenty-one years of age have no legal right to 
claim admission to schools, 86 —pupils closing school-house against teacher, 87 — rights 
which entitle children to attend a particular school, 88— local treasurers to settle for all 
school moneys, 88 — l)cal directors in fractional township, 89 — town!^hlp boards not enti- 
tled to compensation, b9 — how township treasurers to be paid, 90 — members of township 
board where districts have been changed, 9'* — township treasurer shall have cu'^tody of 
all school funds belonging to township, 91 — jurisdiction of local directors and township 
boards, 91 — election of directors, tie vote, 92 — sub-district clerk, term of ofiice, 92— location 
of school houses, 92 — who to determine text-books, 93 -procuring sites for school houses, 
94 — are colored perso s eligible to the office of local director ? 94 - relative to annexing 
sub-district to a village, 95 —length of school month, holidays and vacations, 95— term of 
oflace of clerk of sub district when held by a local director, 95 — transfers of school territory 
made to cities and villages, 96 — sub-districts can be changed only at regular meetings of 
township board, 96, 97— school property not subject to mortgage, 97 — organization of 
schools in cities and villages, 98— school funds not applicable to support of academies, 
and duties of board when expedient to continue school after state funds exhausted, 98 — 
funds for f ducation of colored youth, 99 — can school houses be used by religious societies ? 
100— children of less than half African blood entitled to attend common schools, IDl — 
recovery of money improperly or illegally paid out, 102 — payment of teachers in joint 
sub-districts 1 02— township clerk can appoint local director in certain events, 102 — teach- 
er's right to inflict corporal punishment, 102— dismissal of incompetent teachers, 104 — 
school funds and board bills of teachers, 105— limits of teacher's authority over scholars, 
165 — boards of education to select sites for school houses, 106 — in sub districts composed 
of parts of townships, negligence of the clerk of one township does not release the liability ^ 
of the board for its share of expenses, 107 — pay of teacher without certificate, 108, 109 — * 
apportionment of more than prorata share of funds in sub-district to secure teacher of 
higher branches, 110 — local direct rs in new sub-districts, to be elected, 110 — when local 
director fails to take oath within five days after his election, 111— responsibility of boards 
of education for performance of contracts, 111 — power of boards of education in cities and 



157 

villages to establish schools of different grade, 112— term of Fchool examiner when ap- 
pointed to fill vacancy, 112 — failure of township board to estimate for school } urposfs, 
other than payment of teachers, 113— rent cf room for examination of teachers, 115 — 
transfer of scholars may be made at special me tinirs of township boards, 1 15 — residence 
of pupils, 116 — right to open school with pra;^er, 117 — expenses of s-chools in sub-districts, 
119 — neglect to elect local director, and incumbent refuses to continue in oflRce, 120— legal 
right of colored children to enter common 8ch< ois, 120 — school houses to be accessible, l20 
— dismissal of teacher for immoral practices, 121 — limitation of taxes for building pur- 
pofes, 121— distribution cf school funds among sub-districts, Ii2- dis(jo8ition of surplus 
funds applicable to payment of teachers, 123— examination of city or villnge superin- 
tendent of schools, 123 — dismissal of teacher for disobedience to rules, etc., 124 — failure 
in gov'ernment just cause for withholding certificate 125— can a woman be a legal txammer 
of teachers, 125 — probate judge cannot lemove an examiner, 126 — pajment of t«achtrs for 
time not covered by certificate, 126 — authority of clerk to refuse to draw order for time 
not covered by teacher's certificate, 127 — extra pay to clerk of examiners, 128 — only one 
assessment can be niade for school-houses. 128 — interpretation of the 23d section of school 
law, 128 — local directors in joint sub district^, 128 — discrimination in ihe apportionment 
of funds to sob-districts, 129— sub district tax for payment of teacher^ illegal. 130 — settle- 
ment of township treasurer with county auditor and board of education, 130 — payment 
for services in preparing reports, 131 — penalties for neglecting to make reports, 132 — 
^ 8u- pension or expulsion of scholars 133 — tie vote for local director is a failure to elect, 133 

— contingent fund of township, 134 —board of education cannot destroy contract between 
directors and teacher, 134 — opening of a new road not chargeable to school funds, 134 — 
four members and the clerk not a quorum of township board, 135 — incorporated village 
cannot become a school district under the Akron law, 135 — t-chool houses can be built 
with money from school funds and private subscriptions, 135 — purchase oi maps ; where 
boards of education, without meeting, individually sign contract, such contract not valid, 
135— employment of music-teacher legal, 136— liab lity of directors in payment of dis- 
missed teachers, 137 — presidents of boards organized under act of February 21, 1849, 
entitled to vote, 137 — township clerk should not be counted in constituting a quorum, 137 
— teachers to make rules when township board ( r local directors do not, 138 location of 
school house in two fractions of joint sub district, 13S— county auditor legal guardian of 
the school funds of his county, 138— suspension of pupils for whispering, 138 — relative 
to power of village board to assess tax on annexed territory, 139 — joint sub-district can be 
formed of teritory in different counties, 140 — power of beards of education over wages 
of teachers, 140. 

DECISION^ of Judge Bishop relative to power of two directors to make contract with teachers 
without a formal meeting, 141. 

CIRCULA.RS — to teachers of common schools, 142 — to school officers, 143 — to local directors, 
145— to township cleiks, 146. 

SPECIAL NOTICE to county auditors, 14^. 



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